tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88989289647895682712018-03-05T22:17:34.406-08:00petered outPeter&#39;s Live Independent Music ReviewsPeternoreply@blogger.comBlogger40125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-27383881402357028392013-05-08T14:18:00.000-07:002013-06-04T11:46:41.672-07:00It's NOT About The Music!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SLWfHkOPb_0/UYrVUXj9IgI/AAAAAAAAAWY/j_ZYcc0MMgo/s1600/ron+and+jean.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-SLWfHkOPb_0/UYrVUXj9IgI/AAAAAAAAAWY/j_ZYcc0MMgo/s640/ron+and+jean.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Usually, its all about the music. But sometimes, as surprising as it may sound coming from this music lover, sometimes it has nothing to do with the music. I came home from this special concert with copious notes as to&nbsp;who performed with whom and&nbsp;what songs were played. I had every intention of writing my usual concert review, attempting to give readers a little taste of what the music was like. But when I sat at my keyboard to begin typing, I realized that this was the wrong approach this time. Because on this evening in May, that brought so many of the best musicians, singers and songwriters in Southern California together to perform, the music, as great as it was, turned out to be merely a postscript to the gathering. This event was about community and about the love this music community has for one of its own.<br /><br />Ron Sarfaty may be completely unknown to the casual music fan in SoCal, but among the singer/songwriter community here, he is much beloved. Some of this is the result of decades as a devoted fan and friend to many of the best talents this area has to offer. A great deal of this goodwill comes from Ron's immense talent as a videographer of live music, a service for which he will not accept any compensation. But the real reason he is held in such high esteem in these circles is because he is just a wonderful guy, always fun and cheerful and inspirational in the way he lives his life. Free videography for most of the singer/songwriters around here is but a reflection of the sweet generosity of spirit this man exudes! I am proud and delighted to call him a dear friend.<br /><br />Life threw Ron a major curve ball about nine years ago when he suffered a stroke. Ever since, he has depended on a wheelchair or electric cart for mobility and he was left unable to work at a fairly young age. His hobby of taking videos of his friends' live music performances has helped fill some of the void created by his life challenges. His musical friends have found that these great videos were invaluable in helping promote their music and in helping them to find gigs. Many and probably most of these independent musicians would not financially be able to&nbsp;procure such professional videos and would either have to do without them or have an amateurish one done by a friend. It is impossible to fully quantify the influence his videos have had in furthering the careers of so many artists, but there is no doubt that is considerable.<br /><br />It was inevitable that Ron and I would become friends. As I got more and more involved in the SoCal independent music scene, everywhere I went to see a show, there was this jovial man in an electric cart seated behind a tripod and video camera. Often he was accompanied by his lovely wife Jean, but very often he was alone. I noticed that&nbsp;many houseconcert venues kept a ramp handy presumably just so he, in particular, would always have access. I also found that many of the videos I was viewing online, trying to determine if I wanted to see an act I had never seen, were shot by Ron.<br /><br />Then, about a month or so ago, in a matter of seconds, life again changed radically for Ron. A motor vehicle accident only banged Ron around a bit and really shook him up, but it totalled out his specially-equipped van that had let him be independent and mobile. This van was how he was able to get to so many of those music shows that he shot videos of, and now he had to be dependent on other people to get around. Of course, his insurance offered him a tiny fraction of what it would cost to replace the van and all the special equipment necesary for him to use it, so little that even haggling with them about it would leave him nowhere near what he needed. He worried he wouldn't be able to come up with the rest and was facing extended lack of mobility and the isolation that would entail.<br /><br />Well, Ron had made a&nbsp;"few" friends over the years! The music community in Southern California rallied around him. A bunch of good friends, most notably Sandy Ross and Lee Hirsch among many others, organized a benefit concert on Ron's behalf. All of his musician friends who were at all available offered to donate their talents to appear at The Talking Stick Coffeehouse in Venice, who provided a free location.<br /><br />So&nbsp;last month on a&nbsp;Sunday, dozens of the best singer/songwriters and musicians in the SoCal area and many dozens of supporters showed up for the benefit concert. It was over four hours of spectacular music, much of it done by performers I know and have written about before, but much of it by performers I had yet to hear. There certainly is a lot I could say about all this wonderful music, but, as I have previously stated, the night was more about the music community and less about the individuals and performances. Many of the songs held special messages for Ron or were actually chosen by him as a favorite from a particular artist. The only one song that I will mention specifically here was the only prerecorded tune we heard all night.&nbsp; Legendary singer/songwriter Wendy Waldman is one of Ron's oldest and dearest of friends, but&nbsp;obligations left her unable to attend this tribute.&nbsp;Wendy wrote music for lyrics that Ron had written himself,&nbsp; and together they created "My Island" for Ron and Jean's 20th wedding anniversary last year. It was an extremely special emotional moment in this night when we all listened to Wendy's recording of this beautiful and touching song! The&nbsp;evening was made all the more poignant by Ron not only being with his beloved Jean, but also surrounded by both of his sons and his sister and her family.<br /><br />In addition to all of the songs and music, there&nbsp;were many donated&nbsp;things auctioned off that night, from things like studio time and instrumental lessons to custom designer clothing and restaurant meals. I was extremely impressed by how many folks there just gave and gave. Performers who were already donating their time were stuffing the donation jar with money, donating things to be auctioned and buying auction items from other donors. And this was from musicians who typically are not the most financially secure people around!<br /><br />It has become common for many of us who are part of the independent music scene to refer to "the tribe", the loosely defined group of performers and their fans who tend to show up at their shows and often the reference is meant in a somewhat humorous vein. But when people in this community are faced with crisis, be it financial or health or something else, I have marvelled at how this informal network can mobilize and actually DO something special to help out. I think because very many musicians are forced to live without the "normal" safety nets like adequate health insurance or&nbsp;pensions or other retirement plans, a whole lot of them spend significant time worrying about what would happen to them in the case of crisis. I am sure many in attendance had unspoken questions in their mind that night, along the lines of "If I ever need this sort of help, would the 'community' rally to my aid like this?" My thought is that for anyone with anything approaching the generosity of spirit and sweetness of nature of a Ron Sarfaty, this answer is "Of course, we will take care of our own!"<br /><br />This night was a rousing success! While the money raised still will not cover all of Ron's needs, he is much closer and contributions are still coming in! My biggest hope in writing about all of this is that, just maybe, I can help spur a few others to donate and help out. Here is a link where you can make a donation, any amount will help and be supremely appreciated.&nbsp;<a href="http://www.houseconcerts.us/ron">www.houseconcerts.us/ron</a>. <br /><br />Here is a list of all the performers who appeared (accompanists in parentheses):<br /><br />Lauren Adams (Ed Tree, Mark "Pocket" Goldberg), Joyce Woodson, Ed Tree (Mark "Pocket" Goldberg, Meritt Evan Raff, Jaynee Thorne), Arlene and Bill Kole, John M. (Chad Watson, Elyse), Fur Dixon, Ken Holm and Tom Hubbard, Tim Tedrow and Terry Vreeland, John Zipperer and Friends (Jaynee Thorne, Tara Sitser, Jime Van Booven), Tara Sitser (John Zipperer), Lisa Johnson and Earl Grey, Suzie Glaze (Rob Carlson, Mark Indictor), Dave Morrison (Chad Watson, Meritt Evan Raff), John Batdorf, James Lee Stanley, Dave Tucker, Tracy Newman, Jeff Gold, Severin Browne (Jaynee Thorne), Lisa Nemzo, Michael Wesley Hughes, Chad Watson and Pam Loe, Gary Stockdale, Ric Taylor, Jaynee Thorne, Randall Kirby<br /><br />I would LOVE to be writing about ALL these performers. They include some of my very favorites from way back, as well as some exciting performers who are new to me that I will be seeking out in the future. I urge you to seek out live performances and recordings by all of them. They are quite an amazing bunch of performers as well as being incredibly generous human beings!!<br /><br />And then there were all the hard-working people who planned all this out and then made it all happen. Some of these tasks were not as glamorous as getting on the stage and performing, but without them there would have been no performances!&nbsp; Here are all the people that were thanked from the stage that night:<br /><br />Emcee Mentions May 5th<br />1.&nbsp;The Talking Stick Coffee Lounge – Downstairs venue donation<br />2.&nbsp;Tara Sitser &amp; Tom Hubbard – Emcees<br />3.&nbsp;All the performers – Donated Performances <br />4.&nbsp;Sandy Ross – Performance coordinator &amp; Event Producer<br />5.&nbsp;Diana Weynand – Production Assistant<br />6.&nbsp;Greg Grueger &amp; Pam Loe&nbsp; - Sound Engineers<br />7.&nbsp;Art Brickman – Stage Manager<br />8.&nbsp;John Zipperer – Stage Grip<br />9.&nbsp;Tom Hubbard – Upstairs coordinator<br />10.&nbsp;John M. – Upstairs song-circle host<br />11.&nbsp;Jeff Gold, Holly Goldsmith, Lee Hirsch, Linda Geleris, Lois Tedrow, Julie Zipperer – Donation Collection<br />12.&nbsp;Michael Wesley Hughes – Front Door Manager<br />13.&nbsp;Ken Holme – Backdoor Manager<br />14.&nbsp;Lee Hirsch – Auction coordinator<br />15.&nbsp;All people who made donations for auctions:&nbsp; Severin Browne, Chad Watson, John &amp; Julie Zipperer, Jeff Gold, Jaynee Thorne, Ed Tree, Darryl Purpose, Lois Tedrow, Paul Zollo, Performers who donated CDs, Coco’s, Denny’s, Las Fuente’s<br />16.&nbsp;Lee Hirsch – Parking coordinator<br />17.&nbsp;Bright Now Dental, Ralphs, Staples, Chase Bank – Approved Parking for just this event<br />18.&nbsp;Lee Hirsch &amp; Sandy Ross – Publicity<br />19.&nbsp;Russell Paris – Webpage &amp; Flyer creation<br />20.&nbsp;House concert/venue promoters who publizied the benefit to their audiences:&nbsp; Jaynee Thorne (Stardust Concerts), Julie &amp; John Zipperer (Julie’s Joint), Bob Stane (Coffee Gallery Backstage), Jeff &amp; Holly Goldsmith (West Valley Music Center Concert Series), Russell &amp; Julie Paris (Russ &amp; Julie’s House Concerts), Lois Tedrow, and Lauri Reimer, Brandon &amp; Nickie (The Talking Stick Coffee Lounge)<br />21.&nbsp;Leda &amp; Steve Shapiro – FolkWorks front page story and calendar listing<br />22.&nbsp;Larry Wines – Acoustic Americana Music Guide feature story<br />23.&nbsp;Roz Larman – Folkscene calendar and on-air promotion (two shows)<br />24.&nbsp;Katie Bain – L.A. Weekly story<br />25.&nbsp;Dean Kay – ASCAP Dean’s List<br />26.&nbsp;Dan Kimpel – Music Connection event mention <br />27.&nbsp;Paul Zollo – Social Media<br /><br />I'm sure in all this listing and thanking, someone is being left out and I apologize if my fears are realized! Anyone in the know can send me additions or corrections and I will remedy the slight!&nbsp; And I urge any of the performers reading this, leave a comment with a link to your website, so my readers (both of them!) can find you! There are just too many for me to do all at once!!! I also want to note that the picture above was blatantly stolen by yours truly! It was by far the best shot of Ron I saw after the event, and I had every intention of asking for permission and crediting the photographer, but in the ensuing weeks, I forgot who I stole it from. If its yours, I apologize for my crime and ask forgiveness. If you let me know, I will give you credit or even take it down if for some reasons it was preferred not to be used!Peternoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-42184991821467092732013-04-23T13:01:00.000-07:002013-04-23T13:01:06.564-07:00John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley - All Wood and Stones II - CD Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58_uyMgdje4/UXboQVcSBjI/AAAAAAAAAWE/DG1JNYouVAw/s1600/All+Wood+and+Stones+II.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-58_uyMgdje4/UXboQVcSBjI/AAAAAAAAAWE/DG1JNYouVAw/s400/All+Wood+and+Stones+II.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;Being the rebel that I am, I love it when I can prove the "conventional wisdom" wrong! So I therefore particularly&nbsp;relish the opportunity to skewer two of these "truisms" at the same time. Two such commonly held beliefs coud be stated simply as "remakes are always inferior to the originals" and "sequels are never as good as the first of the series". Well I just finished listening to a CD that is essentially a sequel to an album of remakes, a double-whammy&nbsp;that should doom the project to failure according the widely-held notions! I am very happy to tell you, that the new "All Wood and Stones II" CD by John Batdorf and&nbsp;James Lee Stanley is a such a fun concept and so perfectly executed that it is not only a wonderful exercise in nostalgia, but also a vital and new-sounding musical set in its own right.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; So here's the set-up: &nbsp;Back in 2004 (can it REALLY be that long ago?), two of my &nbsp;favorite singer/songwriters announced a new joint project. John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley in many ways are among the original trend-setters of&nbsp; Southern California acoustic rock, guys whose careers have been contemporary with luminaries like Jackson Browne and The Eagles. While neither have enjoyed the commercial success of such acts, their original writing and recordings over the years&nbsp;have consistently been of&nbsp;world-class quality and had tremendous musical influence. So when they announced "All Wood and Stones" as a musical re imagining of the songs of the early Rolling Stones done as SoCal acoustic rock, I was pretty surprised. Songwriters of their stature rarely do "cover tunes" and certainly not whole albums of them! But the final product they came up with, eleven of the best known and most beloved Stones songs significantly rearranged, was a really interesting and fun CD that was quite popular, as were the shows they did together to support the CD.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </div><br />Since then, nine years have passed and that CD remains a favorite of mine and it still sells well over the internet and at the guys' live performances. So when I heard John and James were talking about doing another album together, this time it wasn't a big surprise. I figured they would find another artist or group to cover this way; there was talk it might be a Motown album or something similar.&nbsp;Yet, heeding "conventional wisdom", I&nbsp;was really shocked that they chose to do another album of Stones material! But now that I have the new CD in hand to listen to, I understand their decision. The new CD may have fewer "hit" songs than the original, but it includes what, in my opinion, are some of greatest tunes in the Rolling Stone archive which are&nbsp;given the SoCal rearrangement and meticulously recorded. To my great surprise, I like it even more than the first one!<br /><br />The tunes run the gamut from huge hit songs like "Honky Tonk Women" to obscure album cuts like "Before They Make Me Run" and tunes from early years, like "Time Is On My Side" to later stuff like "Miss You". Like the first CD, some songs are drastically changed and rearranged and some are fairly faithful to the original, but all feature the note-perfect musical arrangement and production skills&nbsp;for which&nbsp;both of these artists have long been known. This time around, all vocals and all guitars were done by John and James, with bass by old pros Bill Batstone and Chad Watson and drums by Tom Walsh.<br /><br />I won't bore you all with note-by-note and song-by-song dissection. These tunes are mainly about having fun and fun is an elusive&nbsp;feeling not&nbsp;readily analyzed and explained. But this "fun" is not something to dismiss as unimportant! In the realm of the singer/songwriter, it is an element often under-appreciated and ignored, which can lead to some ponderous music trying too hard to be "important". John and James have never been guilty of this and this album is a genuine reflection of the fun-loving spirit within each of these artists. And how do two old musical pros have "fun"? By applying the years of perfecting their art to these tunes, finding the most interesting aspects to highlight and making some subtle comparisons to other music. I simply love the little hints of Beatles music that pop up, like the driving Beatle-esque guitar riff behind this version of "Honky Tonk Women" or the "yes it is" line of "Time Is On My Side" that evokes the old Beatles song, "Yes It Is". There are lots more of these always-subtle musical allusions lurking in the shadows of this recording; the "feel" of Steve Stills' guitar work&nbsp;in the Buffalo Springfield tune&nbsp;"Mr. Soul" pushing underneath "Jumping Jack Flash"&nbsp; or the good-time, call and response "yeah,yeah" towards the end of "Get Off Of My Cloud" that sounds right out of "Hang On Sloopy" by The McCoys. It doesn't get much more fun than a chorus of&nbsp; "Sloopy" !!!!<br /><br />But all of this fun is not to deny the artistry John and James display here! Front and center in all these tunes are the magnificent vocals of both. It almost seems unfair to the competition to meld maybe the two best male vocalists in the acoustic music scene here on this one CD. James' full, deep voice brings a distinctive darkness to songs like "Miss You" and "Jumping Jack Flash"&nbsp;which make these versions even more meaningful than the originals. And while John has always been known for the sweet, higher vocals that he wields here on&nbsp;ballads like "Play With Fire" and "Wild Horses", his bluesier takes on tunes like "Honky Tonk Women" and "Sympathy For Devil" growl with surprising intensity! And&nbsp;these voices were made to be blended! These guys really know how to use them behind the lead vocals&nbsp;to&nbsp;grand effect. I wish I had the technical capacity to isolate just the background vocals on this album, picking them out of the full mix they sound simply astonishingly great and, on songs like "Get Off Of My Cloud" or "Before They Make Me Run", they stand out as the most dynamic component of the arrangements.<br /><br />Then there is the guitar work!&nbsp;Like on the Stones' original versions, these songs are built around the framework of the&nbsp;guitar chording and riffs. John and James&nbsp;have such great voices, I think their guitar virtuosity can often be overlooked. The guitar playing is perfection everywhere on this album. Its hard for me to tell who does what where on this CD, but there are some really remarkable guitar parts played all across the CD. The lead guitar work is all done on acoustic, and I believe the guys both take turns at it, but its hard to tell. And while the acoustic guitars&nbsp;are able to make some songs really rock out, they can also sound almost like a harpsichord behind "Play With Fire"! <br /><br />So, take a listen yourself and see if you agree that, "conventional wisdom" be damned, this is a thoroughly exciting and inspired "sequel of remakes" that are just a whole lot of fun! The ten songs on this album&nbsp;have already stood up to the test of time in their original versions but here they are injected with new life and added meaning in the fascinating new interpretations. As a whole album they come off as a completed work and there is a fitting irony in the closing tune, because for me, as a huge fan of these tunes back in the day and as a huge fan of&nbsp; these new versions, I can truly say, "Time Is On My Side".<br /><br /><br />Here is a link to the "All Wood and Stones" website:<br /><a href="http://allwoodandstones.com/">http://allwoodandstones.com/</a><br />and the Facebook page:<br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=458371687576189&amp;set=a.268778803202146.63445.216725755074118&amp;type=1">https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=458371687576189&amp;set=a.268778803202146.63445.216725755074118&amp;type=1</a><br /><br /><br />And&nbsp; links to John Batdorf's websites:<br /><a href="http://johnbatdorfmusic.com/">http://johnbatdorfmusic.com/</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf">http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf</a><br /><br />and his Facebook page:<br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Batdorf-Music/279578037051">https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Batdorf-Music/279578037051</a><br /><br />And a link to James Lee Stanley's website:<br /><a href="http://www.jamesleestanley.com/">http://www.jamesleestanley.com/</a><br /><br />and James' Facebook page:<br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=458371687576189&amp;set=a.268778803202146.63445.216725755074118&amp;type=1#!/james.l.stanley.7?fref=ts">https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=458371687576189&amp;set=a.268778803202146.63445.216725755074118&amp;type=1#!/james.l.stanley.7?fref=ts</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">﻿</div>Peternoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-60046252577138327032012-02-16T17:14:00.000-08:002012-02-16T17:14:54.313-08:00Perla in Wonderland - Perla Batalla and Band in Concert with The Eclipse Quartet at the LACMA Bing Theatre February 4, 2012﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿ <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xlLa08DWGts/Tz2gQRTXvCI/AAAAAAAAARg/6i3d0mQaRMk/s1600/PerlaGuitar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xlLa08DWGts/Tz2gQRTXvCI/AAAAAAAAARg/6i3d0mQaRMk/s320/PerlaGuitar.jpg" width="211" yda="true" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by Claud Mann</td></tr></tbody></table>﻿<br />There is one thing that I have learned&nbsp;in the few years that I have been writing music reviews. It seems&nbsp;that, the more you like a given performance, the harder it is to express your feelings about it and describe why you liked it so much. When we don't care for something, we can almost always cite specifics; the singing was out of tune, the lyrics were pedestrian and trite, that sort of thing. Well, last week, we attended a performance by Perla Batalla and her band, along with The Eclipse Quartet at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art's Bing Theatre as an adjunct&nbsp;to the current exhibit, "In Wonderland : The Surrealist Adventures of Women Artists in Mexico and the United States". I now find myself in a&nbsp;state I rarely&nbsp;experience, near speechlessness!!!! I really should end my review there, because I know words will be ineffective to communicate the transcendence and wonder of that evening's performance of old favorite gems and exciting, triumphant, newly-commissioned songs. But, as you all expect, I will persevere and attempt to share my enthusiasm in the simple hope it may spur some to investigate more fully the work of this amazing artist!﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿﻿<br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div>My expectations leading up to this concert were sky-high for a whole variety of reasons. First and foremost, we have been Perla fans for more than a decade and have seen many of her performances and always have found them to be pure bliss! Whether its been a night of Perla singing jazz standards or a night featuring her Latin roots or a night of her performing her own work, we have always come away exhilarated and inspired. But of all her many "reinventions", our favorite has always been the work she has cowritten with guitarist/singer/composer David Batteau. They recorded two albums of original compositions awhile back entitled "Mestiza" and "Heaven and Earth" which remain to this day two of my all-time, very favorite CDs. Then, of course, there was the fact that this concert was to be the debut of new collaborations by these two talented songwriters and that these new works were actually commissioned by as prestigious an institution as LACMA! This is nearly unheard of territory for indie singer/songwriters and yet, as amazing as it is, I am thrilled to say Perla and David have been commissioned previously to collaborate. It says a lot in these tough economic times that there are institutions that recognize the significant cultural value in the work of these two talented composers.<br /><br />These high expectations spurred me to purchase tickets for this show on the very day that Perla first announced it publicly, so we were lucky enough to settle into our front row center seats in the Bing Theatre.&nbsp;This was a&nbsp;lovely, comfortable and classy venue for such a concert&nbsp;and it&nbsp;was filled to capacity, I presume with mainly Perla fans. Projected on a backdrop screen on stage were a series of paintings taken from the exhibition that this concert was associated with, which created an atmosphere of serious culture, but, maybe because it was surrealist art, there was nothing stuffy about the vibe at all (see above photo). Very appropriate to the evening's theme, the first half of the performance was by The Eclipse Quartet, four young female string players who presented two extremely interesting and enjoyable avant-garde modern classical works by two female composers, Meredith Monk and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Classical music criticism is WAY outside my area of any sort of expertise, so suffice it to say that this act was a great opener for Perla and her band in that the music was SO different from what we would hear in the second half, and yet so fitting as surrealism and so conducive to the aura of serious cultural significance that this night held.<br /><br />After a brief intermission it was on to the main event! Perla took the stage along with the great band she had assembled just for this special evening, Pete Korpela on percussion, Perla's junior high classmate, John Beasley on piano, and, of course, David Batteau on acoustic guitar and vocals. They started out their set with a selection of songs from Perla and David's "Mestiza" collaboration. I now see in hindsight how these songs in particular were chosen for this performance: the themes and emotions they explore would be echoed in the new songs presented later, creating a building atmosphere to showcase the new work. I found it interesting that Perla mentioned that she never thought of her work as surrealism prior to being asked to compose for this exhibit. While I'm not sure I would have previously used that word in describing her work, her lyrics have always had the sort of indefinable but strong imagery that is wholly in the surrelist tradition. And the music that she and David create has always been genre-defying, at once jazzy and folky, Latin and pop, ethereal and straight-ahead. "Don't Say That You Did This To Me" started us out with its dark imagery and insistent melody. Then came "Cine de Llantos" or "Cinema of Tears" whose very title embodies the surrealist theme and I have always loved the jazzy Latin rhythms that propel this song. "Tears of the Sun" offered more poetic abstract imagery and then came one of Perla's tour-de-force vocal numbers, "Iberia", with Perla's vocals soaring high but totally under precise control, delivering the surrealistic imagery of a place where "everything runs backwards". In my mind's eye, I was seeing&nbsp;a Dali timepiece in the glare of a Spanish desert, I guess I really took all this surrealism to heart!<br /><br />That concluded the "old favorites" portion of the show and I was finally about to hear what I really came for, the newest collaborations in the Batalla/Batteau canon! I think, though I am not certain, that Perla was commissioned to write ONE new song, or maybe a couple to accompany this exhibit. But that isn't the way Ms. Batalla does things! As she is known to do, she totally committed herself to this project, and she and David researched the exhibit and its artists and became captivated and inspired by the art and the love story of renowned artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. On this evening we were treated to five new songs documenting the lives and work of these singular talents. Because I have only heard these songs just the one time, I'm short on musical details to share about them, but they are thoroughly delightful songs that are unlike anything I've heard these two come up with before and yet, totally&nbsp;within the musical traditions they have explored together, also. First was "Mexican in Paris" which was about Diego's years in a Paris full of artistic freedom and experimentation. This delightful waltz was made all the more special by the addition of special guest artist, the legendary Van Dyke Parks on his accordion, "Carmen"! This was an unbilled appearance that not only added to the musical spice, but also made so much sense thematically, given that Mr. Parks has long been acclaimed as a surrealistic lyricist, most notably in his collaboration with Beach Boy genius Brian Wilson on the legendary "Smile" album. Next came a song about Frida's art called "The Great Unreason" followed by a tender love song "Diego Mi Amor" which featured a masterful jazzy solo by pianist John Beasley. Through all these songs, I was so impressed by the other players, most notably David's amazing rhythmic guitar-playing and his understated background vocals, which were a perfect foil for Perla's huge voice and vocal charm. "Tell Me" was next, I jotted a note that it was a broken-hearted love ballad,&nbsp;but, I must confess, all I remember about it was that I loved it! But the finale song to evening, "My Blue House" which was accompanied brilliantly by The Eclipse Quartet, was probably the most memorable of the new songs, a totally charming, almost child-like melody that reminded me of abstract carousel music and&nbsp;turned to&nbsp;a chant-like repetition of "Frida/Vida" that brought the song and the show to rousing and triumphant finish!<br /><br />Well for the guy who claimed to be near-speechless, I've again, not surprisingly, managed to ramble on and on! But this was such a special, special evening that I just had to do my best to describe the indescribable. Perla has mentioned that she and David hope to add to these songs and maybe even expand them into a musical, which I think is a natural for these songs and subject matter. While that is an exciting prospect, I just can't wait to hear these songs again and again and to be able to own them on CD! But until that happens, you can be sure that I will take EVERY opportunity to visit Perla in Wonderland!<br /><br />Here is a link to Perla Batalla's website:<br /><br /><a href="http://perla.com/home.html">http://perla.com/home.html</a><br /><br />And one for the LACMA exhibition this show was part of:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/in-wonderland">http://www.lacma.org/art/exhibition/in-wonderland</a><br /><br />And one for The Eclipse Quartet:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.eclipsequartet.com/">http://www.eclipsequartet.com/</a><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none; clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-2190404068559897602012-01-30T16:58:00.000-08:002012-01-30T19:36:12.310-08:00Severin Browne - "LUCKY MAN - A Songwriter's Notebook" - CD Review<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eNRmMBNM9tE/TyckfhqZ1rI/AAAAAAAAARQ/lCt9s4D-Gho/s1600/LuckyMan200x178.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" gda="true" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eNRmMBNM9tE/TyckfhqZ1rI/AAAAAAAAARQ/lCt9s4D-Gho/s1600/LuckyMan200x178.jpg" /></a></div>At the end of every calendar year, there is always a rush by artists to get their new CDs released in time for holiday gift-giving and, this year, among my most-anticipated releases was the new Severin Browne CD, which we had purchased as a pre-order. With it now in hand and having listened to it numerous times, I notice a very apparent error!&nbsp; No, the songs are all great and there are no bad notes here; my problem is with the title. While "Lucky Man" is a VERY appropriate title, being the name of the killer opening track, my beef is with the subtitle, "A Songwriter's Notebook". To me the concept of a "notebook" gives connotations of unfinishedness, a&nbsp;work-in-progress glimpse at the artist at work, and that certainly is not a very good description of this CD. With the well-honed perfection of these songs and the wide array of styles&nbsp; and feelings they incorporate, "A Songwriter's TEXTBOOK" would have been a MUCH more apt description!!!<br /><br />So, now that my ridiculously cute opening paragraph has hopefully grabbed your attention, let me tell you a bit about this wonderful collection of songs by one of the best songwriters around. For those unfamiliar with Severin and his work, he has spent the better part of four decades as a professional songwriter and was a staff writer for Motown&nbsp; many years ago. The discipline he learned back in those days has given him&nbsp; a real depth of musical experience to draw from in creating and arranging this remarkable bunch of tunes. The first thing that will grab you about these songs are the amazing variety of styles and feels these songs encompass. From tender ballads to uptempo rockers, from cosmic folk tunes to bouncy calypso, from Cajun raveup to bluesy soul vamps, Severin is able to find just the right voice to tell the story at hand in the most effective manner.&nbsp; What always strikes me about his music, whether enjoyed live in concert or recorded on CD, is how the performances are always about&nbsp;the SONG, not the singer or the instrumentals. Severin's singing can be deceptive in its strength. He will never wow you with vocal fireworks, like hitting big huge notes or soaring to incredible high notes or the like. Instead the "everyman" warmth in his voice helps lend these songs a universality that would be less effective delivered in a bigger voice. But please don't misunderstand what I'm saying, I have NEVER heard the man sing a bad note in countless performances both live and recorded over many years. He has a GREAT voice that I know is capable of much more than we ever hear, but he uses restraint to serve the purpose of the tune with no distractions. Similarly, while Sev is one of the best guitarists you'll ever hear, he is content to let&nbsp;his incredible&nbsp;side musicians play the solos and provide the background coloration, while he concentrates on the message in the song.<br /><br />Now that we have established that Sev is all about the songs, lets examine these great tunes a bit. I could write on and on about each and every song here, but I know I tend to get too wordy when I'm this enthused about music. I will only describe a few of my personal favorites so I won't bore any of you, but each and every song on this CD is praise-worthy in its own way and deserves your careful attention. The CD starts with the title song, "Lucky Man", a jazzy musical morality play which features Gary Popenoe's plaintive harmonica work underscoring the twists of the ironic story of the lyrics.&nbsp;Its a&nbsp;perfect opening tune to draw the audience into Severin's view of the world. The song "Calypso Rose" lets us know that we&nbsp;will travel the world appreciating his songs, a full-blown Calypso rocker complete with steel drums and infectious rhythms that make you want to get up and do the limbo all by yourself!!!&nbsp; Some songs are more about FUN than anything else, which makes a&nbsp;terrific release from the "seriousness" of some of the other tunes.<br /><br />"To The Light" is a song Severin penned along with Freebo, James Lee Stanley and David Roth. We have also heard Freebo and James perform this tune both live and on record, but I think Severin's version is the best of all! His breezy delivery of this "cosmic"&nbsp; new-age sounding&nbsp;song keeps the message grounded in every-day realities, steering the song from over-blown philosophy into the realm of a much more personal universe, without sacrificing the "cosmic" feel. This a superbly crafted&nbsp;song that features a chord progression that is at once unusual and totally logical, which again, perfectly underscores the lyrical content.<br /><br />One of the most personal songs on the CD, "I Am Not Cactus", takes a metaphor and runs free with it, comparing the walls with which we protect ourselves emotionally to the protection that the spines give a cactus. The simple melody and chord progression, the spare production and Severin's&nbsp;warm&nbsp;vocal delivery are one of the most starkly beautiful expressions of vulnerability you will ever hear!<br /><br />Do you know what is the most recognizable song in the English language? "Happy Birthday To You" has generated a huge amount of royalties over the years and is maybe the song most firmly entrenched in our Western culture. So who would be able to replace this song for us?&nbsp; Sometimes the most simple, straight-forward sentiments are the hardest to express. No worries, Severin Browne is on the job and more than up to the task! "Britta's Birthday Song" is a brave attempt to come up with an a grown up song to celebrate our personal milestones in song&nbsp;and it&nbsp;succeeds on every level:<br /><br />"The longer it steeps, the better the tea, the more time that the sauce can slowly simmer naturally, Today we celebrate another year, Happy birthday!"<br /><br />Wow! This is simply ASTOUNDING songwriting! I hope that this eloquent expression of the upside of aging and the&nbsp;celebration of the lives of our loved ones will replace the old standard at future parties in my circle of family and friends!<br /><br />The next highlight is a stop at the back alleys of New Orleans for a Cajun rocker, "Cat Woman", with its tales of love and fast food and felines, this song has been a crowd-pleasing staple&nbsp; of Sev's live act for years. Its another tune that is just a lot of fun, from a serious songwriter who never takes himself all that seriously. On songs like this or "Calypso Rose" you can hear Sev's years of experience as a bandleader and these songs have a "live" feel and immediacy to their groove that only hundreds of live gigs can impart to a tune. I need to stop and mention the great musicians and background vocalists that Severin has assembled to add some serious polish to some already gleaming songs. There are too many different players here for me to mention them all, but the list of names resembles a Who's-Who in SoCal music circles and includes some players that are particularly favorite to me. In a business climate that lends itself to down-sizing and do-it-yourself technologies, it is a singularly refreshing and wise decision that Severin made in bringing in all these pros and it has a wonderful effect on every moment on this CD. <br /><br />The next song on the CD, "Dear Ruthie", could very well be my favorite Severin Browne song and maybe just one of my favorite songs by anyone! Another seemingly simple tune that is utterly perfect in its construction and starkly beautiful in its execution, and whose emotional&nbsp; "pay-off" at the end avoids over-the-top sentimentality mainly by virtue of Severin's perfect vocal delivery and the inevitabilities built into the structure of the song. The same tune written by less of a craftsman would never work, but this gem never fails to bring a tear to this jaded, cynical reviewer's eye! I am being purposely vague on the "story" of this song, since it is&nbsp;best experienced for the first time without knowing where&nbsp;the story&nbsp;is headed. I remember Sev saying once in a live show that&nbsp;that night&nbsp;was the first time in years that he had performed it, and it still blows me away that a songwriter could discard a tune of this magnitude! In a review of that live show, I wrote that, to me, that was "like Michelangelo leaving the Sistine Chapel out of his portfolio"!<br /><br />Well, hitting just these seven&nbsp;"highlights" has left me neglecting some really great songs, because this CD has no filler at all. The remaining six songs, stated as succinctly as I can, include the nostalgic drinking song "Enough For Us", the blue-eyed soul of "Is It Really True" seems to hearken back to Sev's Motown days, "Don't Give Up On Me Virginia" with its bluesy boozy vibe, "The Other Man" a beautifully dark, minor key ballad with its wonderful "pirate" metaphors, "When It's Right It's Right", another gorgeous simple melody with wonderfully optimistic lyrics and finally "Lessons" a heart-felt finale of a tune with its child-like questioning and questing.<br /><br />So there you have it, thirteen exquisitely crafted tunes that embrace&nbsp; an amazing breadth of styles and feels and are recorded with all the love and care they deserve by some of the greatest musicians around! Like I said originally, a veritable "Songwriter's Textbook"&nbsp; delivered by the old master himself, Severin Browne!&nbsp; There is a lot to be learned here, please get yourself a "textbook" and see what lessons YOU can learn!<br /><br />Here is a link to Severin Browne's website where you can learn more and purchase the CD directly from the artist!<br /><br /><a href="http://www.severinbrowne.com/">http://www.severinbrowne.com/</a><br /><br />And here is a link to a video I shot of Severin accompanied by Ed Tree&nbsp; doing "Lucky Man" at Russ and Julie's House Concerts on 11/11/11<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://youtu.be/N_QnB0TEbZw">http://youtu.be/N_QnB0TEbZw</a><br /><br /><br /><br />Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-41451395180979124632012-01-17T11:29:00.000-08:002012-01-17T15:02:12.325-08:00The Koles and John Batdorf In Concert at the Simi Vallety Cultural Arts Center Saturday, February 18, 2012<div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_wFrevZC43A/TxX66NyCmRI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/Dg62s8ic2m8/s1600/Koles+5pc+promo+shot+11x7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" kba="true" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_wFrevZC43A/TxX66NyCmRI/AAAAAAAAAQ0/Dg62s8ic2m8/s400/Koles+5pc+promo+shot+11x7.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qPlQMQnXNjQ/TxX90N63z4I/AAAAAAAAAQ8/NCNIK08Jr1c/s1600/one+last+wish+improved.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" kba="true" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qPlQMQnXNjQ/TxX90N63z4I/AAAAAAAAAQ8/NCNIK08Jr1c/s200/one+last+wish+improved.bmp" width="200" /></a></div>So, normally this blog is about reviewing shows after they happen or CDs after they are released, maybe a music festival overview, that sort of thing.&nbsp;But sometimes events and circumstances are more important than formats! Besides, my readers are few enough that there will hardly be a public outcry that I'm&nbsp; stepping over lines, and I write what I want here anyways. So today I am taking the time to help promote a show, (and hopefully a whole concert series!) that is VERY dear to my heart. On February 18th, 2012 at 7:00 pm there will be a concert at the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center featuring The Koles with special guest, John Batdorf.</div></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">With all the great music we are blessed with the opportunity to see in person here in SoCal, its hard to single out&nbsp;individual shows as extra-special. But the combination of a super-strong co-billing and some special considerations has prompted me to support this show with all the gusto I can muster and with whatever meager influence I might be able to generate.</div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;"><br /></div><div style="border-bottom: medium none; border-left: medium none; border-right: medium none; border-top: medium none;">If you have read the reviews I have posted on this blog, you will notice that the name John Batdorf shows up more than any other name. I have been a fan of John's since the Batdorf and Rodney days in the early 70's, when they were thought of in same light as the earliest releases of folks like The Eagles, America and Jackson Browne. To give you an idea, yesterday an old friend back on the east coast, who I recently became Facebook friends with, saw a post I put up on Facebook about John Batdorf. Her comment was&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; "as in Batdorf and Rodney? I loved those guys. May be worth a trip to the west coast!" After 4 decades without hearing any of John's new music, she is ready to fly cross country for a chance to hear him now!!!!&nbsp; I would find that astounding if I didn't relate to it so much! &nbsp;For me, finding John out here in California and becoming acquainted with his new music has reignited my passions for live music and spurred me to become more involved the SoCal music scene.&nbsp; Talking about music being "life-changing" may sound a bit over the top to some, but John's music is THAT good. And he is only one half of this co-billing!</div><br />Knowing how much I esteem John Batdorf as a musician, you might imagine how I felt a couple of years ago when he told me about this new act he had heard, a singer/songwriter named Arlene Kole who performed with her husband and daughter. He told me that their CD was the BEST new album&nbsp;he had heard in years and that it not only had some great songs but it also just&nbsp;SOUNDED great! Well, if you have heard me describe John's talents as a masterful producer, arranger and engineer of his own albums in addition to his singing,songwriting and guitar-playing, you would understand what this endorsement meant to me! And when I jumped at my earliest opportunity to go see The Koles live and buy their CD, I totally understood John's enthusiasm!<br /><br />Unfortunately, due mainly to my neglect at times of this blog, I have yet to review The Koles in concert, so I'd like to give you taste of what the experience of seeing them live is like. The first thing that will strike you are the voices!! All five members of the band have amazing voices and four of them take turns at singing lead, though the bulk of the repertoire is fronted by either Arlene or her daughter Skyeler. Their harmonies are amazingly beautiful adornment to some really transcendent soaring lead vocals. Then you will notice the virtuosity on their instruments, not to mention that they swap around instruments on almost every song (they each play more than one instrument with lots of skill). This ability to swap instruments makes an infinite variety of musical coloration possible, providing each song with just the right sound to make it fully effective. The key to the sound of The Koles is husband and father Bill Kole, another wizard&nbsp;of the recording studio and a guy who I swear has never met a musical instrument he couldn't master. In the course of an evening with The Koles, you will hear Bill play guitar, bass, keyboards, mandolin, banjo, drums and Lord knows what else, and he plays all these expertly and with taste. With the recent addition of young virtuoso Wyatt Stone, a child prodigy we heard years ago playing with Rickie Lee Jones and now grown up, the band has even more&nbsp;instrumental variation. Wyatt is a KILLER&nbsp;on guitars, fiddle and keyboards, pedal steel and any other instrument he lays his hands on and he is contributing some surprisingly mature songwriting. And with the always tasteful "Uncle" Jim Rolfe playing spot-on-perfect guitar flavors, as well as taking turns at bass or mandolin, the depth of varied musical sound this band is capable of is virtually limitless. Then, most importantly, there are the songs! With at least four incredibly talented songwriters in the group, the songs also vary greatly stylistically, from angelic ballads to stinging blues wails, from bluegrass rave-ups to indie rockers with stops at all points in between! And I must particularly note how much I love the songs penned by daughter Skyeler Kole, her songs have a unique quirky indie feel that make me think this is where the band might really take off with commercial success!&nbsp; This "share the spotlight" ethic is a key ingredient in experiencing The Koles live and also, from what I'm told, on the new CD!<br /><br />Hopefully my words have at least begun to convey how excited I am at the prospect of seeing two of my most favorite acts appearing together and hopefully, maybe, I have transferred a little bit of that excitement to you. But there is another important reason this show is so important to me and again, maybe I can convince you of its importance to YOU.&nbsp; Arlene Kole is promoting this show herself, in the beautful, intimate and comfortable confines of the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center. For us, this is quite a different setting than we are used to frequenting to hear live indie acoustic music! Usually these sorts of shows happen in someone's living room as a houseconcert or in the basement of church on folding chairs, or out in a field at a festival, or, even worse, in a noisy nightclub where most of the folks ignore the music as they get obnoxiously inebriated. It is quite rare to get to hear this music in a real theatre setting, with comfortable seats, great sightlines, pro sound and lights and a real stage!!! Arlene is trying to show the powers that be in Simi Valley that this music will draw people and she hopes to promote lots more shows of this nature with other indie talent. If this show does well, it can lead to all sorts of other shows in this great venue or others like it!!! So I have given Arlene my FULL support on this, as I think it to be of MAJOR importance to the SoCal music scene. I am BEGGING all my friends, acquaintances and readers to buy tickets NOW and support this show!!&nbsp; I would also encourage any performers who are without gigs that evening to buy tickets and show up also, you folks have a vested interest in this show's success!!!!<br /><br />I sincerely hope to see you all there that night!!!!!!!<br /><br />Here is a link to John Batdorf's website<br /><br /><a href="http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html">http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html</a><br /><br />and to The Koles' website<br /><br /><a href="http://www.arlenekole.com/home.html">http://www.arlenekole.com/home.html</a><br /><br />and to the event Facebook page<br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/312116545499771/">https://www.facebook.com/events/312116545499771/</a><br /><br />and for the Simi Valley Cultural Arts Center to buy tickets and get directions<br /><br /><a href="http://www.simi-arts.org/">http://www.simi-arts.org/</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-58272659786806834072011-12-22T20:23:00.000-08:002011-12-26T14:08:24.667-08:00"One Last Wish" by John Batdorf<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9d_TYGFcGpQ/TvjwLmSAYyI/AAAAAAAAAQU/fTMVA2gCPCU/s1600/one+last+wish+improved.bmp" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" rea="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9d_TYGFcGpQ/TvjwLmSAYyI/AAAAAAAAAQU/fTMVA2gCPCU/s400/one+last+wish+improved.bmp" width="400" /></a></div><br />"The new phone books are here!". I have always remembered this innocent expression of exuberance by Steve Martin's character in "The Jerk" and that's exactly my feeling with the arrival of the latest CD by John Batdorf, "One Last Wish". It reminds me of my youth, being maybe 12 or so, and oh so anxiously awaiting the latest release by The Beatles or the The Stones. The anticipation was heightened by my unshakable conviction that, not only would these albums not possibly disappoint, but that they'd be different than anything I've heard before and somehow IMPORTANT. That importance, seemingly laughable to my folks at the time, has certainly been proven with time and what once seemed like an oxymoron, "important pop music", is now a very meaningful expression. "One Last Wish" is John Batdorf's latest offering of important pop music!!<br /><br />Okay, now I know at least a few of you are thinking, "Come on, Peter, I know you're enthusiastic about music, and this Batdorf guy's name is vaguely familiar, but to mention this guy in the same breath as The Beatles????" A logical response and I'm the first to admit there will NEVER again be acts like those legends, mainly due to changes in the times and in the music business. That being said, I have been a fan of John's since his days in Batdorf and Rodney, fully four decades ago, and he has been writing and recording "important pop music" ever since, with a decade or so break when he was employed writing and scoring some very successful TV series. A great deal of his work has already stood up to the test of time and, in my view, his work just keeps getting better.<br /><br />But my purpose here is not a testimonial, but instead a brief overview of a wonderful new CD. It is late enough in the year to state definitively, "One Last Wish" by John Batdorf is the "Album of the Year" in independent music for 2011, a year that has seen some great new releases! It's a collection of twelve meticulously crafted songs that run the gamut of happy and sad, uptempo and reflective and all points in between. Many of the songs in some manner cover some new ground for John, in ways I will attempt to describe. But if John, along with his long-time co writer Michael McLean, had one stand-out feature to his writing (he actually has many!) it would be his remarkable ear for melody and his extraordinary gift for devising melodies that are at once totally unique, but with a feeling of timeless familiarity. All of these songs are testament to that melodic talent. As for stylistic departures, I have come to believe these are due to a couple of changes in the way John wrote many of these tunes, as opposed to his previous work. Some of the differences could come from a forced hiatus from performing due to vocal issues (since rectified, I'm glad to say!) that let John write many of these songs in a more condensed time frame than usual. Its difficult to assess how that effected these songs, but the other difference in how many of these songs were written I think is more telling. Last year John got a new Martin Baritone acoustic guitar (I want one!) which is pitched substantially lower than a standard guitar. Many of these songs were first conceived and written on that instrument, and I'm certain that it has brought out new melodies and harmonies, just as a function of how the notes are laid out on that new instrument.<br /><br />"One Last Wish" as a whole, is John's most consistent album start to finish. While there have been no "bad" or "throwaway" songs on John's previous CDs, there have always been a song or two or three per album that have stood out greatly as the cream of the album. After listening to this group of songs dozens of times, my favorites change day to day. Every song stands out in some way, there is absolutely no "filler" material there. And as considerable as John's talents are as a songwriter, vocalist and guitarist, one of his greatest skills has become his mastery of the recording process. The production on this CD is note perfect, down to the last handclap and tambourine shake. With the revolution in digital recording, EVERYONE records themselves and self-produces these days, but almost none of them will sound as good as this. Trust me, I have personally spent a ton of money on guitars, only to ultimately learn it's not the tool, it's the hands of the artist using it that creates great art. John has also hired some of the best professional musicians and vocalists around to help him on the CD, cutting no corners on the road to artistic triumph.<br /><br />I could go on and on in detail about each song on the album, but I realize that becomes "look how smart I am" and I'd rather not go there. But I can't resist at least brief reflection on each song.<br /><br />"Don't Give Up On Dreams" is in many ways a quintessential John Batdorf song, full of contradictions musically and lyrically, but ultimately totally logical in both regards. This a perfect example of music and lyrics working in tandem and reinforcing each other, a seemingly simple tune that reveals more and more depth the more it is examined, a finely crafted device that does its job with beauty and grace.<br /><br />"Real Life" follows in a long tradition of pop music and film being tied together. The lyrics are a poignant reminder that reality rarely gives us the "happy endings" that films seem to promise us, <br /><br />"I can't control in real life the way the story goes, Cause in real life sometimes the girl says no"<br /><br />A wonderful lyric in one of the best AND most hooky choruses John has ever written, this sounds ready for a mainstream radio breakthrough!<br /><br />"Mama's Comin' Home Tonight" is somewhat of a change for John, an uptempo bluegrass-gospel rave-up that makes you want to stomp your feet and features great background vocals by Dan Navarro, a singer/songwriter legend here in SoCal.<br /><br />"Heaven Help Me" this time a major departure, a full-blown gospel hymn that almost has you waiting for the choir, but background vocals again by Dan Navarro along with Bill Batstone, fill the bill nicely! This one I know we owe to that new baritone guitar that it was written on. It is the first John Batdorf song I have heard that sounded like it might have been written by someone else, and to me, its an adventurous step that only adds to John's songwriting chops.<br /><br />"Life Is Good" Wow, I could go on and on about this one, a small musical miracle of a tune! Funny thing is, on first listening I thought "nice little song, but incessantly cheery and sing-songy, I will tire of it quickly!" I couldn't have been more wrong! The melody went around my head for days after one listening! This is one of those songs that sounds like you've heard it a thousand times and also sounds different from anything you've EVER heard and if I could figure out how John did that, well I wouldn't be here talking, I'd be out writing my own miraculous songs. Wonderfully playful lyrics delivered with some really clever rhyme schemes just make this song Fun with a capital F. And how great is a "serious" songwriter who doesn't take himself TOO seriously?? Somebody in the TV world should scoop up this song as a perfect theme song for a sit-com! I have drunk the kool-aid and I will NEVER tire of this song because, you know what? Life IS good!<br /><br />"I Feel Loved" This one is pure John Batdorf! A hauntingly beautiful love ballad with angelic background vocals by Arlene and Bill Kole, this is another one ready for some mainstream airplay.<br /><br />"Can You Hear Me" Another stunner that's a real different song for John, this is nothing if not a power ballad that could have been written by the aforementioned Dan Navarro, who has penned several major hits for others. This sounds to me like a potential Top 40 type hit! <br /><br />"Forgotten" Every album needs a change-of-pace song and the quiet, reflective and spare arrangement of this little,wistful, tender teardrop of a song fills the bill in lovely fashion.<br /><br />"If You Could See Me Now" Many of John's songs are stories, written in character. I don't know for sure, but this one sure feels like John singing from his heart, a personal inquiry into what one's life has meant and how it would be viewed by those who meant the most to us. If I'm wrong then he sure sells the idea with his heart-felt vocal melodies.<br /><br />"You Just Left Me" A song that could only come from John Batdorf and his songwriting partner Michael McLean. It has all the earmarks, the rhythmic acoustic guitar underpinning implying the melody of John's soaring vocals, and an ironic lyrical twist at the end. On a lesser album, this would be the highlight song, here its just another killer tune.<br /><br />"One Last Wish" There's a reason this is the CDs title track, for sure, but again its a very different sound for John. This one has to be the most straight-forward rock song John has ever made, with a driving ride-out ending. Its also one in a long line of "home" songs that John has written, that theme not surprising from a guy who left his midwest roots for fame and fortune in the music biz in California as a teenager. This is another song that could play on mainstream radio. It also has the feel of closing off the album, that "taking it home" feeling only making the next astounding song stick out even more.<br /><br />"Revolution" Okay, I dare to say it! This is an "Important" song. It was written as a response to the Arab Spring uprising and has achieved new resonance with the Occupy movement around the world. But this is no call to arms, much to the contrary, it's a prayer for peaceful change. <br /><br />Revolution by John Batdorf/Michael McLean<br /><br />Heard the news ...yesterday... Revolution is on it's way<br />There's a nation that's stirred..... millions of voices are finally heard<br />Will it go where it's meant to go?<br />Will it be what it's meant to be?<br />Will that great uprisin' on the far horizon<br />Do it peacefully? All the world will see<br /><br />Let it rain, let it shine......do those voices echo mine<br />Where they stand... is where they'll fall<br />And they are willing to risk it all<br />May they change what they need to change<br />May they say what they have to say<br />At that great uprisin' on the far horizon<br />Going on today... May the world pray<br />May they find their way<br />To that brave new day<br /><br />What an inspired masterpiece of songwriting and recording this song is, serene yet passionate, drifting yet insistent, spare yet detailed. This is a song like John Batdorf himself, a timeless classic that will be around inspiring people for a very long time! There is a wonderful video for this song, put together by a talented videographer named Ron Sarfaty, and I will include a link to it below, please watch it and listen to this amazing song, because the words elude me to describe it adequately!<br /><br />I often get excited about new music and I'm known to go on and on about just about anything, but with this new John Batdorf CD "One Last Wish", its a whole different case. This incredible collection of humble pop songs has fully risen to and even exceeded my admittedly high expectations, has made me fondly remember my younger days and has me upbeat and optimistic about the future! That's a lot to get from a dozen songs, a sure sign of Important music and a sure sign that, as John sings in "Life Is Good", "Today life got a little better"!<br /><br />Here's a link to John Batdorf's website:<br /><br /><a href="http://johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html">http://johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html</a><br /><br />and a link to the "Revolution" video:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFQKE370XPI&amp;feature=share">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFQKE370XPI&amp;feature=share</a>Peternoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-56346956690231518152011-03-16T19:02:00.000-07:002011-03-16T19:02:14.185-07:00A Community of Song - Palm Loft Gallery First Friday Songwriter's Circle Open Mic - Featuring Paull E. Rubin and Friends - March 4, 2011<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B9sv70f6prE/TYFnDlM3-0I/AAAAAAAAANw/AHKZxxQltic/s1600/Paull+E..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="148" r6="true" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B9sv70f6prE/TYFnDlM3-0I/AAAAAAAAANw/AHKZxxQltic/s200/Paull+E..jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Its funny how perspective changes with time! When I started this blog&nbsp;almost two years ago, it was from the perspective of a fan, but&nbsp;relative outsider to the realm of independent music. But with time and my presence at countless shows and the connections this blog has created in its own quiet way, all of a sudden, I find myself being somewhat of an insider. And while I admit, that may cost me a wee bit of objectivity, the payoff in access and insight is well worth that, not even mentioning the richness this adds to my life!<br /><br />All of the above philosophizing is my convoluted way of introducing the theme of this weekend's entertainment - Community! While many enterprises cause people to develop a sense of community, it seems to me that this is especially so in the realm of independent music. And in the somewhat small and insular area of Santa Barbara County the community feel of the independent music scene is even more apparent. We got a glimpse of this spirit recently when we visited the Palm Loft Gallery in Carpenteria, CA for their First Friday Songwriter's Circle Open Mic Night, which on this occasion featured as headliner Paull E. Rubin and Friends.<br /><br />This was our second visit to an Open Mic Night at the Palm Loft Gallery. We had visited the previous month, mostly to see the ever-delightful Rebecca Troon, a long-time favorite performer.&nbsp; Sitting in with Rebecca that evening was a guitarist I had never heard before, one Paull E. Rubin, who played some really tasty guitar and Dobro with like no rehearsal, just winging it and sounding great. We really enjoyed that night, so when I heard that he would be headlining the following month, my calendar was instantly marked!<br /><br />Like our last visit, we arrived at the Palm Loft Gallery, just up from the beach in Carpenteria, in time to enjoy a marvelous California beach sunset at the early, pre-daylight savings time of 6 pm and just in time for the start of the Open Mic. The Palm Loft Gallery is an art gallery that hosts these events either the first Friday or the Saturday after the first Friday. The format is an hour of open mic by sign up, an hour of the headliner, and then another hour of open mic.&nbsp; There is a table of appetizer snacks and beverages that&nbsp; are brought by visitors and the whole thing is FREE! Contributions are accepted to help the headliners defray travel costs. <br /><br />The gallery and the event are run by a gentleman named Arturo, who is a songwriter himself and performs in the open mic portion. Arturo, as well as most of the other open mic performers and many of the headliners, are participants in a program called Summersongs West, a twice a year workshop for aspiring songwriters, with one camp on the west coast and another on the east coast. I have been hearing a lot of wonderful things about this program for many years and many favorite artists have been on staff there or been campers themselves.&nbsp; It is very obviously a wonderfully supportive atmosphere for nurturing songwriting and it has a lot to do with sense of community of the independent songwriters up and down the Central Coast of California. One of these days, I'll get to attend myself! And though the performers during the open mic portion of the evening run the gamut from very professional sounding to&nbsp;fairly amateur, they all exhibit the spirit of Summersongs, the openness that comes from that sense of community and they are all warmly received by the audience.<br /><br />From there we got to the heart of the evening, a set by guitarist/songwriter/vocalist Paull E. Rubin and Friends.&nbsp; Paull will tell you himself, he really is mainly a band guy and not used to doing solo acoustic stuff, so he was thrilled by the last-minute arrival of his friend and musical compatriot, Marc Mann as well as drummer Ken "Snake" Farmer to help him out. With Marc on guitar and vocals and Paullie switching between guitar and Dobro and singing, with Snake on borrowed house drums and an occasional added background vocal by Lisa Bialec-Jehle, &nbsp;it certainly was full "band" sound. Paullie and Marc traded songs, &nbsp;each providing tasty counterpoint to the other's tune. Paull and Marc especially are long-time musical collaborators, playing together as the Bear Bros. and Marc produced and played on Paull's&nbsp; new CD, Proof, which is a wonderful retro-yet-fresh-sounding album.&nbsp; So the spirit of musical community&nbsp; came through loud and clear in their set as well.<br /><br />Unfortunately, other commitments made us leave after the headlining set and we couldn't stay for the final open mic portion, though as we left there was some discussion if anyone still wanted to perform after such an exhilarating set. But I did stick around long enough to buy us a copy of Paull's previously mentioned CD, "Proof" and get it signed. It was a very fun evening and we left feeling we were a part of a really special musical community!!<br /><br />Here are links for the Palm Loft Gallery : <br /><br /><a href="http://www.thesoulgroup.com/PalmLoftGallery/index.htm">http://www.thesoulgroup.com/PalmLoftGallery/index.htm</a><br /><br />and a Facebook page for their Songwriters Circle:<br /><br /><a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Palm-Loft-Songwriters-Circle/179322751447?ref=ts#!/pages/Palm-Loft-Songwriters-Circle/179322751447?sk=info">https://www.facebook.com/pages/Palm-Loft-Songwriters-Circle/179322751447?ref=ts#!/pages/Palm-Loft-Songwriters-Circle/179322751447?sk=info</a><br /><br />and a link for Paull E. Rubin:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.rubinhood.com/">http://www.rubinhood.com/</a><br /><br />and a link for Summersongs:<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><a href="http://summersongs.com/">http://summersongs.com/</a><br /><br />Photo at top of page blatantly stolen from Paull E. Rubin's Facebook page!!!!!!Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-4249459147915477422011-03-16T14:55:00.000-07:002011-03-16T14:55:59.657-07:00I'm BackI can't believe its almost a year since I've posted!&nbsp; A few of you have asked about it. I apologize that I haven't been able to keep things rolling, but I hope that, going forward, I can stay current.&nbsp; I hope to be making some changes too, expanding my scope from just houseconcerts to live independent music in general.&nbsp; And hopefully I will be going from this free blog site to a full-blown website where I can pontificate on other subjects as well and get exposure for some of my artistic pursuits and other interests. I will keep you all posted on these changes as they occur. Until then, I have some reviews to share with you!&nbsp; Its good to be back, I hope you enjoy what's coming!!!!Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-8365065205328707962010-05-23T15:55:00.000-07:002010-05-24T10:47:34.602-07:00BLAME SALLY - Houseconcert Review - Bodie Houseconcerts at the Thousand Oaks Library - May 1, 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/S_Lx1_g1-rI/AAAAAAAAAKw/621qVevB0mE/s1600/blame+sally.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/S_Lx1_g1-rI/AAAAAAAAAKw/621qVevB0mE/s400/blame+sally.jpg" width="355" wt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>&nbsp;Memory can be a funny thing, especially at my age. We had seen the group Blame Sally a couple of times back a few years ago, once at a houseconcert and once at a festival. I do remember liking them and that I found their instrumentation interesting, but, other than a general positive feeling towards them, I remembered little else. And, in what I always call the ultimate review, we hadn't bought any of their CDs at either event. So when this concert was announced somewhat late, since we had nothing else planned, we decided to go see them again, but with somewhat muted expectations. And now I feel VERY lucky making that choice, because, as I have suggested, either my memory of them was very faulty or this band has gotten WAY better in the last few years or maybe there is a combination of&nbsp;both at work!<br /><br />&nbsp;We arrived at the Thousand Oak Library for this concert very early because we were worried about traffic, with Conejo Valley Days going on right across the street. But we had no trouble getting there, so we were&nbsp;some of the first inside.&nbsp;We settled into some front row seats in front of the percussion set up because we remembered that the band had a very interesting percussionist and, with Becky studying hand percussion, we wanted a good view of both technique and equipment. The room quickly filled up behind us, not a sell-out but a real nice large crowd especially considering the somewhat short notice that this show was happening.<br /><br />&nbsp;The traditional opening announcements and introductions were done by our hostess, Renee Bodie and Library Director Steve Brogden. The band then took the stage and launched into their first number, "I'm Waiting", a haunting dark tune with a rolling rhythm and some great electric guitar licks by Jeri Jones that were very reminiscent of the playing of Mark Knopfler, which is a HUGE compliment in my book! My thought when it was over was that many groups would use a song this great&nbsp;as an encore, a real good sign for the rest of the show! The second song was a total change of pace and feel. "Trouble" was a uptempo rockabilly workout that featured a kick-ass guitar solo by Jeri.<br /><br />&nbsp;A pause is in order here to introduce the band a bit. Blame Sally are a quartet of female singer/songwriter/musicians from the Bay Area of California who have been playing together for at least a decade. They all are great singers. The bulk of the songwriting is done by Renee Harcourt&nbsp;or Monica Pasqual. Renee plays a whole variety of guitars along with bass, harmonica, banjo, mandolin,&nbsp;lap steel and lord knows what else. Monica plays a variety of keyboards and accordion and probably a lot of other instruments. They both are VERY accomplished, prolific songwriters and both have done multiple solo albums while still members of the group. Percussionist/guitarist Pam Delgado also contributes some great songs though she's not as prolific as Monica or Renee. Their latest CD includes two of Pam's songs, the rest are by either Renee or Monica. The final member of the band, Jeri Jones, plays guitars, mandolin, bass, and dobro and is quite adept at providing the songs with the sonic ornamentation that fully fleshes out their themes and meanings. Pam and Jeri also play sometimes as a duo, called "The Pam and Jeri Show". On this night, as well as the previous times we've seen them, the ladies were augmented by rock-solid 5 string bassist Rob Strom, who has what I consider one of the best sideman jobs in the music business! I will have more to say about each of them as this review progresses. ( above picture left - right, Monica, Jeri, Renee, Rob and Pam ).<br /><br />&nbsp;The set continued with one of Renee's songs, the very poignant "All Rise",&nbsp; which she told us was written during and about her cancer treatment which I'm glad to report was successful. Its a really beautiful and moving song about confronting your fears of the unknown. And then came a new one, "Bird In Hand", a song of love gone wrong that had Pam playing her djembe drum with brushes and Jeri's rhythmic guitar figure reminding me of "Ghost Riders in the Sky"!Once more the mood and pace were changed, with Monica taking a solo turn with just her piano and beautiful voice for "I Knew You When"&nbsp; written for a loved one dealing with Multiple Sclerosis. Then Renee and Jeri took the stage as a duo with Renee on acoustic guitar and Jeri on mandolin doing&nbsp;Renee's song, "Carnival Ride" which she wrote as a love song to her friends and family on the occasion of her 50th birthday. It was a bouncy happy ditty which was perfect for its sentiment.<br /><br />&nbsp;The whole band retook the stage with Monica playing accordion for the next tune, another of Renee's and one of my favorites, "Jump Start". With its driving, insistent rhythm as the perfect background, it delivered a wonderful description of the obsessive passion of new love,<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; " I stood out in left field watching<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;You snuck up on me like a wildfire<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Sparks and flames flashing and flying<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; And I felt the light inside jumpstart"<br />Another powerfully moving song came next, Monica's "Night of 1000 Stars", the story of a soldier returning from war with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder that drives him&nbsp;to domestic violence. This song is the title track to Blame Sally's latest album and its beautiful vocal melodies ran counter to the otherworldly sounds of Jeri's bottleneck guitar creating a dreamlike atmosphere. It was just one more example of the stunning subtlety of Jeri's understated guitar playing and, as we gave them an ovation as they left for intermission, I couldn't help but marvel at how GREAT this band had become or how&nbsp;flawed my memory of them was!<br /><br />&nbsp;Intermission brought the usual sugar-rush snacks, some socializing with our hosts and other friends in the audience and of course a CD purchase and signing. Trying to economize in the face of an unpaid furlough at work, before the show&nbsp;I was determined not to spend the money, but this band was just too good to let the opportunity pass! I was very anxious to hear what else they had in store for us.<br /><br />&nbsp;The band returned to the stage and began the second set with the straight-ahead folk-rocker "Fillmore Street". This song again made great use of Jeri's bottleneck guitar work and also Renee's harmonica solo, while playing on the similar lyrical sounds of&nbsp; "Fillmore" and "feel more". The next song was probably my favorite Blame Sally song and seems to be one of the band's "signature" tunes. With a jangly mandolin rhythm and Monica's bouncy accordion, Renee's song "Pass the Buddha" gave a humorous peek at the New Age and Eastern therapies that the world threw in her direction during her cancer treatments. "Please, pass the Buddha,&nbsp; a hit of Mr. B, open eye number three"&nbsp; is just part of one of the coolest lyrics I've heard in ages! This was one song I had remembered from hearing the band previously!&nbsp;After that came a slow love ballad, "Same Space" and then a stripped down, slowed down cover of Aretha's "Chain of Fools", with Pam delivering the soulful lead vocals.&nbsp; Another cover headed in a more country direction, Emmy Lou Harris and Rodney Crowell's "Tulsa Queen".<br /><br />&nbsp;The night was headed into the home stretch but there were still some gems in store for us. Monica's "Pajaro Sin Allas" had the sound of a traditional latin folk song. Then came Pam's tour de force from the latest album, "Hurricane", a bluesy rave-up comparing a woman's rising passion to an impending storm. Another major crowd-pleaser, it featured Jeri's bottleneck National Steel guitar and a great accordion solo from Monica. Then came the show closer, "Dead Horse", a haunting bluesy ballad of the love-gone-wrong variety that sounded like it was written by Renee ( I haven't been able to verify this ). It used a great bottleneck solo by Jeri to help it build in intensity as&nbsp;the finale. And, of course, the crowd was wild as the ladies left the stage! We all wanted more, and of course we were rewarded with an encore. <br /><br />The band&nbsp;came back and played the traditional Mexican folk song, "La Llorona", which sounded very different than the song we've heard Perla Batalla sing many times. But it was also&nbsp; a great tune and we got a chance at one last great piano solo by Monica and I got to hear one last tasty guitar solo by Jeri, who impressed me all night with&nbsp;the talent and taste&nbsp;in&nbsp;her understated playing.&nbsp;It was a &nbsp;really pleasing end to an exciting night of really great songs and musicianship and we were very glad to have been there to experience it!<br />So here's one last try at my question.&nbsp; As I finally finish this review, I've had the benefit of a few weeks to ponder some of this. Had I really forgotten how great this band was? Had they really made great improvements in a few years? I'll probably never totally figure it out, but&nbsp;one thing seems relevant. Most of the songs we heard on this night were songs we had previously heard a few years earlier. Clearly their material has&nbsp; been this good for a while! So while I allow that their playing of these songs may have improved some in the ensuing years, I personally think that I previously was just not in the right space to totally get them or had forgotten how GREAT they really were. And of course none of this really matters, the important thing is that I am now a huge Blame Sally fan and I hope you will soon be one, too!<br /><br />Here's a link for Blame Sally :<br /><br /><a href="http://blamesally.com/">http://blamesally.com/</a><br /><br />and one for the Bodie Houseconcerts :<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html">http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html</a>Peternoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-52015777361376941602010-05-15T14:30:00.000-07:002010-05-15T14:30:24.293-07:00Incendio - Russ and Julie's House Concerts -April 24, 2010Being quite a fan of world music, I have seen many Latin guitar instrumental groups. I find I&nbsp;tend to either really like them a lot or&nbsp; really dislike them a lot. Because I play guitar myself, I'm generally predisposed to enjoying these sorts of groups but I&nbsp; have heard many that I find bland, unexciting and self-indulgent. I'd compare it to how I feel about most "Smooth Jazz", pleasant in the short-term, but with no edge, passion or real emotion being conveyed. The lack of vocals also can contribute to this coldness. There may be some excellent playing, but if there's no emotional connection, there's no point to it all. So when I heard that the group "Incendio"&nbsp; was a replacement booking at Russ and Julie's House Concerts, and that they played "World Fusion Guitar", I wasn't sure what to think. But because Becky likes this kind of music even more than I do and because Russ and Julie's glowing recommendation is something I know I always can trust, I decided we should go check out "Incendio". What a good move!<br /><br />So we arrived at the concert just as the doors opened, with our treats in hand for the potluck appetizer/dessert table as always. The room was already almost full but we found a couple of&nbsp;pretty good seats, greeted our hosts and nibbled a bit. The crowd seemed to skew even older than usual, hardly anyone looked under 40. "Incendio" took the stage. I later found out that the band sometimes plays with a drummer and a percussionist, but in this intimate setting they consisted of the core trio, acoustic guitarists Jim Stubblefield and JP Durand and 5 string electric bassist Liza Carbe, who also played classical acoustic guitar on several songs. As the band launched into its first number a couple of things were immediately apparent. These guys could really play and their sound was anything but stereotypical Latin guitar noodling. And, while the other players were excellent, JP Durand seemed to be the "straw that stirs the drink", so to speak.<br /><br />The opening numbers were inspired by visits to Barcelona and Edinborough. The Barcelona song, whose name I never heard, was Latin-sounding as you might expect but featured a guitar solo by JP where his guitar sounded just like a piano. Now that by itself is hardly noteworthy, these days junior high kids can afford the gizmos that make this possible. But never have I heard a guitar player adjust his technique to the extent that the attack and decay, and the voicings all sounded like a piano would. Its hard for me to convey just how difficult what he did was! The Edinborough inspired song, "St. Margaret's Tears", was more Celtic in flavor and the next tune, "Illumination", written by Jim, was Middle Eastern sounding and had a solo by JP that this time recreated the sound of an organ.<br /><br />The set continued with Liza putting down her bass and playing a classical acoustic guitar on a couple of numbers. First a Peruvian waltz, whose different meter was a change of pace and then "Lightdancer", a bouncy, jazzy song. From there we were treated to a very classical medieval sounding piece that was very contrapuntal and whose name I missed. The band closed the set with a Venezuelan inspired "Malaga Sunset" which was quiet and very pretty and then "Rhythm of the Heart" which reminded me of the California Guitar Trio, a favorite act of ours and a wonderful band to be compared to.<br /><br />Well here we were at intermission, and we had already "travelled the world" while sitting in Russ and Julie's living room! And intermission at Russ and Julie's means eating as much chocolate as our consciences would allow and mingling with some very friendly people. It can be almost as much fun as the music and we made the most of it!<br /><br />The second set began with another light bouncy tune, "Rambla Pacifica", which featured some very syncopated riffs. The next tune,a tango whose name I also never caught, featured an "accordion" sound on JP's first solo, an impressive bass solo by Lisa, and then another "piano" sounding solo that was very tasty. Lisa again made the switch from bass to classical acoustic guitar for the next tune, another slow beautiful waltz called "Haunted".<br /><br />The night was beginning to wind down but we still had some musical "traveling" in store for us, first "One Night in Monaco" for more of the European taste followed by the classical-sounding "Espiritu". Lisa then moved back to bass for the closing "Temple of the Sun", a samba that featured an excellent jazzy "piano" sounding solo from JP and the only sound effect that I thought didn't really work well, a "steel drum" sound that was a little bit hokey-sounding. But that was only a minor "bump in the road" in a night of amazing guitar work with a real variety of&nbsp;sound and flavors from around the world. The crowd loved it all, responding with a standing ovation. And I ended up going home that night VERY glad I had chosen to see "Incendio" and chalked up another great success to Russ and Julie. These folks never let us down!<br /><br />Here's a link for "Incendio":<br /><br />http://www.incendioband.com/Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-31759066131635459732010-05-15T12:23:00.000-07:002010-05-18T13:25:57.985-07:00Earthmother's Day - Perla Batalla - Grand Annex, San Pedro,CA - May 8, 2010<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/S_L3i2gAlLI/AAAAAAAAAK4/kmZ8pgkRRlI/s1600/perla+approved.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/S_L3i2gAlLI/AAAAAAAAAK4/kmZ8pgkRRlI/s320/perla+approved.jpg" wt="true" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>&nbsp;So at the risk of being branded the aging hippie that I actually am, I am declaring a new holiday! The day before Mother's Day every year will hereby be known as Earthmother's Day! To find out why just keep reading.<br /><br />Last night we had the real pleasure of seeing one of our most favorite performers, Perla Batalla, and her band, at the Grand Annex, adjacent to the Warner Grand Theatre in San Pedro, CA. Well it wasn't a houseconcert, but it was in a houseconcert-sized venue, cost a houseconcert-type price and really was very much like a houseconcert in intimate atmosphere, so I felt I could include a review on my blog without really changing my focus. I have been waiting a long time for a chance to include Perla with the acts I have reviewed here, so I will jump at the chance! <br /><br />&nbsp;We had planned weeks ago to drive to Culver City to see some other favorite performers, John Batdorf and James Lee Stanley performing together on this night.&nbsp;But when&nbsp;Perla's &nbsp;show was announced a couple of weeks ago (or at least when I heard about it), we decided to change plans. This was no slight to John, who we get to see quite often, or James, who we at least see regularly, but we don't get that many chances to see Perla live. And I am still trying to get over the fact that&nbsp;she had to cancel her&nbsp;UCLA Valentine's show while recovering from a bout of pneumonia from which, I'm happy to say, she has made a complete recovery.&nbsp; We had second row center seats to that show that never happened! I&nbsp;figured a Perla show would be a perfect Mother's Day gift for Becky. So we decided the drive of at least an hour and half each way to San Pedro and back and the change in plans were minor obstacles at most. And because the show was only $15 per ticket if bought in advance, it was doable financially in these tough times.&nbsp;And, because those very reasonable tickets were for general admission seating, I made sure we were there nice and early to get good seats in a venue I had never been to before. And wouldn't you know it, we snagged seats in the second row, right in the center! Funny watching karma in action, especially if its your own good karma!<br /><br />A quick word about the venue. The Grand Annex is a storefront several doors down from the Warner Grand Theatre which I gather is an old movie palace theatre in downtown San Pedro that has an on-going restoration in process. I have never been inside that theatre. This concert was part of&nbsp;the Annex's&nbsp;Latin music series which&nbsp;is done as fund-raising for the foundation that is making the restoration happen. The Annex space is pretty small and unassuming, with a riser-type stage, adequately large,&nbsp;but not roomy, and&nbsp;about 70 to 80 folding chairs arranged in rows in front for the audience. The seats were arranged tightly and were uncomfortable at first but there was plenty of space in the room to spread them a bit and with time that's what everyone did. The lights and the sound system appeared to me to be what I'd call semi-pro, but experience told me Perla would soon make them irrelevant anyways. The room soon filled to at least near-capacity and there was an air of expectation in the crowd. Perla fans tend to be very loyal and I'm sure the room contained few if any casual or first-time fans.<br /><br />After the perfunctory opening announcements and introduction, Perla and her band took the stage. We were thrilled to see she had the rhythm section we have seen with her most, who have played with her, off and on for many years. This excellent band consisted of drummer/percussionist/vocalist Debra Dobkin, bassist Mike Velasquez and pianist/vocalist Karen Hammack. &nbsp;I will have&nbsp; more to say about all of these great musicians later! The first tune began with Debra playing a near-military roll with brushes on her snare and then Perla's gorgeous a capella voice launching into the very spiritual Leonard Cohen anthem, "If It Be Your Will".&nbsp; For those who are unfamiliar with Perla, she toured as a backup singer with the legendary poet/songwriter/singer for many years and&nbsp;has recorded a CD of her interpretations of his songs. She&nbsp;has an obvious special connection to the man and his songs and&nbsp;I always find them extremely inspirational.&nbsp; And this night would be no exception! &nbsp;For many singers this song and its rendition would be material&nbsp; for a climatic encore, but Perla was just using it to get warm!<br /><br />Up next was the infectious bouncy rhythm of "Moliendo Cafe" whose Spanish lyrics are about "grinding coffee", which I've always taken as a double entendre but with my feeble Spanish skills, I may be mistaken. Nevertheless, its a great tune that this band really has a feel for and Karen's piano chops, always outstanding, kept it swinging. At this point the band was joined by Claud Mann on congas, who not only is a great musician and a fellow chef, but happens to be Perla's husband of many years. He often augments the band, particularly on the more rhythmic Latin numbers and the next song, "Mas y Mas", certainly fell into that category, with the band sizzling once more.<br /><br />After that&nbsp;was a change of pace song, beginning with Perla telling us about "La Llarona", the Mexican version of The Bogeyman, used to scare young children into obedience. Perla's haunting vocals emphasized her interpretation of the legend as more of a mystical/spiritual story than a horror story, with her singing "the meek... will reach for the stars and inherit the earth". A very interesting percussive arrangement had Claud playing congas, Perla tapping a rhythm on a musical gourd, and Debra, having covered her share with an "outboard" conga type head, playing her drum kit with her hands!<br /><br />The standard introduction to the next song always makes me smile, no matter how many times I've heard it. It was particularly meaningful on this Mother's Day Eve. Perla says that we all think our children are the most special things on earth....... but&nbsp;hers&nbsp;really is. Before you write that off as hyperbole, I happen to know she's right! I've had occasion to meet her daughter Eva several times as she's grown up and I've always been quite impressed with her ability to converse with adults she's just met. She's obviously mature beyond her years and I hear she's quite a student.&nbsp; This led into one of my favorite Perla songs, written with guitarist David Batteau, called "Holy Roses", a musical tribute to Perla's pregnancy and Eva's birth and early childhood. It is quite poingnant lyrically and beautiful musically. It's obviously a special song for Perla and her vocal delivery was soulful and full of personality, a signature song and performance!<br /><br />Our next treat was Perla's special surprise guest, jazz vocalist Melanie Jackson. In one of the most generous and courageous acts a singer could make, Perla&nbsp;left the stage and turned it and her band over to her friend Melanie, who was obviously touched by the gesture. Melanie did a stunning jazz take on "Somewhere Over The Rainbow", taking a somewhat tired&nbsp;standard and turning it back into the transcendant number it must have once originally been. Karen played a great jazzy solo on piano and by the final verse Melanie had left the original melody so far behind that&nbsp;the song had a whole different feel. Not many singers on this earth &nbsp;other than Perla would have the self-confidence and generosity to leave the stage in the middle of her act and let a vocalist of such considerable talent take over!<br /><br />And then came a song which featured an impressive solo introduction on bass by Mike Velasquez. He displayed great technique in a style called "popping", using the right or "plucking" hand to rhythmically&nbsp;strike the strings percussively while fingering notes with the left, a common technique of funk and soul bassists. He then switched to a "tapping" technique I have never seen a bassist use. He&nbsp;used his right or plucking hand to instead finger frets in a tapping motion making them sound while tapping and sounding with his left hand also.&nbsp; Its something many six string electric and acoustic guitarists have been using in the past decade or so but he is the first I've seen use it on a bass. These "tricks" created a very inventive rhythmic intro to "El Cascabel", a song&nbsp;with&nbsp;a haunting rhythm and a fun audience participation singalong ending.<br /><br />Another signature tune for Perla came next, the oft-requested traditional Mexican tear-inducer "Cucurrucucu Paloma".&nbsp;This was a&nbsp;perfect example of&nbsp; Perla's amazing talent and her ability to make a song her own.&nbsp; As sung by many, this song can be the type of over-the-top sentimental fluff that would make me cringe, but Perla has an uncanny ability to get "inside" a song emotionally and then convey that to the audience. It always feels "real", never like an actress playing a role. Its difficult to figure out how exactly she does this, much less describe it, but there is definitely magic at work!<br /><br />I could call each of the remaining songs "one of my favorites" because I guess I have a lot of them! The show "closer" was "Gracias a la Vida", a song made popular by Mercedes Sosa, but rapidly its becoming owned by Perla. &nbsp;This song features the band at its best, Mike's driving bass line popping with Debra's percussion to create the foundation, Karen's syncopated chords and fills giving it shape and substance and of course Perla's vocals making it soar!&nbsp;Its a&nbsp;totally joyous song of thanks and the band obviously has a blast playing it and the audience gave their own thanks by joyously demanding an encore. And they were rewarded with a pair of Leonard Cohen classics. First was by request, "Dance Me to the End of Love" a beautiful love song that begins soft and with a tango-like rhythm and builds into an almost klezmer Eastern European-sounding singalong. Perla has written a beautiful, poetic Spanish translation that she traded-off with the English verses increasing the exotic flavors of this great song.Then came&nbsp;the spiritual plea for redemption, "Bird On The Wire", one of the most loved songs from the Cohen canon as well as one of the most covered.&nbsp; It was another great example of Perla inhabitting a song fully and extracting every last emotional nuance from it. The night concluded with Perla and Melanie leading the audience on a singalong of the classic "Guantanamera". A thoroughly delightful ending to great evening of world-class music!<br /><br />So this wonderful night left me remaining with one question nagging at me. What is it that makes Perla such a great singer? Well sure, she hits all the notes with great range and power, but to me that's expected from a professional singer. Her talent runs much deeper than that but its difficult to pin down the particulars. As I've mentioned previously, I have never encountered another singer who is so able to totally get inside of a song emotionally and convey that to an audience. Part of that is choice of material, she has a great wealth of originals and covers that are obviously very dear to her, many of which she has been doing for years. But the most amazing ability she has as a performer is how open she is with an audience, how much of herself she shares with a roomful of relative strangers, including her personal and family life. There is an integrity and realness that is very very rare in performers and this totally comes through to an audience. Many performers can make you leave their show in a better mood than when you came in. Perla makes you feel like&nbsp; you leave as a better person! And that incredible ability is the best definition of an Earthmother I could ever come up with. Happy Earthmother's Day everyone!<br /><br />Here's a link to Perla's website:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.perla.com/">http://www.perla.com/</a>Peternoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-22433694644208197142010-01-18T14:58:00.000-08:002010-01-18T14:58:18.095-08:00Caroline Aiken - Bodie House Concert - October 30, 2009It never ceases to amaze me that, seemingly with every passing week, I can&nbsp;be presented with &nbsp;a "new" artist that is making incredible music that I had not previously discovered. When it's someone who has been making great music for decades, its all the more surprising they could have escaped my notice. And its one of my great joys to live where we do and have access to presenters like Renee Bodie and Russ and Julie Paris who&nbsp;we can always count on to bring in acts that, while they may be&nbsp;new to us, are consistently not only professional performers but ones with a unique point of view and voice. In other words interesting people who just happen to use music as their means of communicating with the world. <br />On this pre-Halloween eve at the Bodie House Concerts at The Thousand Oaks Library,&nbsp;Renee Bodie&nbsp;introduced&nbsp;her audience to Caroline Aiken, who, along with being an accomplished singer/songwriter/guitarist, just happens to be a long-time friend of hers. It seems one summer long ago they were maids together in Yosemite or something like that. I'm thankful of any connection that brought Caroline to my attention because, as I'll try to describe, she rocks!<br />The crowd was arriving late and still dribbling in as Caroline introduced her friend and opener whose name, I believe was Dave Mesnik (don't quote me on the name or spelling, I can't verify it). He did a short set of three pleasant if unremarkable tunes. Then Caroline took the stage and immediately the energy level in the room rose, and I noticed that the smallish-seeming audience had swelled to nearly packed. Caroline started off playing acoustic 6 string guitar which she had capo'd up real high on the neck, making her guitar sound a bit mandolin-like. Her first song, "Spirit Of Love" featured her rhythmic strumming on guitar and bluesy vocal delivery and instantly reminded me of an old favorite of mine from back east, back in the day, Ellen McIlwaine, which in my mind is VERY high praise!<br />As her set continued, Caroline switched to 12 string guitar which she played bottleneck style. The blues song, which she described as a true story and whose name I didn't catch, was about a street-scholar/handicrafter named Copper John. It &nbsp;really showed off her vocal chops and guitar playing while at the same time painting a moving portrait of human dignity in the face of misfortune. This led to an instrumental tour-de-force, another tune I can't name for you, but I can tell you it was very much in the spirit, style and level of vituosity of Leo Kotke, who we have also seen in recent weeks. I was mighty impressed and the show was just starting.<br />A move to the piano brought "Hello Cruel World", with Caroline sounding very jazzy and that song morphed into a killer rendition of one of my all-time favorite Elton John songs, "Madman Across The Water".<br />Caroline's voice was perfect for this dark-sounding tune and the audience seemed to be spellbound. She then showed off her considerable piano chops with an instrumental tune ,"Mad Michael", that started off sounding classical, and in turn became show-tunish, then folky, then a prog-rock style opus. To close the first set, she kept up the momentum she had generated with "Day By Day" an up-tempo rhythmic rocker that sounded like it could have been a hit by Heart. Wow! That was an opening set that covered a lot of musical ground&nbsp; at a high energy level.<br />Intermission involved the usual rituals involving chocolate&nbsp; and coffee and chocolate and mingling and more chocolate. It was the night before Halloween and chocolate was EVERYWHERE! I somehow managed to find time to buy a CD and chat a second with Caroline, who was very graciously flattered when I asked if she was influenced by Ellen McIlwaine. Further intermission entertainment was provided by the costumes some were wearing and there was even a quick costume contest before the second set. Even Caroline had brought a witch's hat! All that was left was to grab some chocolate and go in for the second set.<br />Caroline had done such a high energy opening set, but the rest of the night was just as strong. There were many highlights, not the least of which was a cover of Joni Mitchell's "Coyote". In our household no one is revered more than Joni and while we love to hear her covered, we can be critical of those who reach beyond their abilities but Caroline absolutely nailed a version that I know would do Joni proud. I also loved&nbsp; "Hotel At Highway One", its countryish feel giving that&nbsp;powerful sense of place and time. And then in "Mission of Angels", Caroline sang of relationship going south in one of the BIGGEST voices I've heard in a while, and I'm talking Janis Joplin big. For a change of musical pace and a tribute to her home , on St Simon's Island in Georgia, she did an a capella gospel singalong on the old field song "Turtledove".<br />Caroline finished the night with a great tribute to the power of the guitar, "My There For Me Guitar" a sentiment every guitarist has felt, no one understands me like my guitar! Of course there was an encore that really stood out with "Ground Zero" a beautifully positive statement of politics and religion. It was&nbsp;a remarkable evening of music, by a performer whose excellent songwriting is equalled by her powerful vocals and vituosic musicianship. And it was another reminder of how many amazing musicians are out there and how great it feels to discover one of them for the first time!<br /><br />A link for Caroline Aiken:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.carolineaiken.com/index.html">http://www.carolineaiken.com/index.html</a><br /><br />and one for Bodie House Concerts:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html">http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html</a>Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-47401626006690769022009-12-20T17:36:00.000-08:002009-12-20T17:36:19.218-08:00Rhythm Angels - Duncan House Concert - October 4, 2009I can't really explain why, but Nature and the Cosmos seem to be all about duos and the number two! There is a reason why there are two genders, why the world is viewed in terms of yin and yang, hot and cold, up and down, on and off, etc. I just don't really have a grasp on why it is that way. Maybe a basic natural binary code of on/off, it/not it? Who knows? But I have also noticed that in realm of music, the duo is the smallest and most pure expression of being a band and it is that "twoness" that allows for magical things like harmony and counterpoint to happen. So often musical duos become something more than the sum of the two parts. And it is this sort of transcendence that is the duo, Rhythm Angels' stock and trade.<br />Very often, in anticipation of a certain concert featuring a performer I haven't heard yet, I'll catch a bit of a buzz about a show. The host might point a out a certain upcoming show and say "Don't miss this one!" or another performer or house concert presenter will mention the artist positively. In the case of this show featuring the Rhythm Angels, ALL of the above happened. I was really anticipating a great night when we arrived at Scott and Rosemary Duncan's home that evening, and I knew, with the endorsements I had heard, there was no way I was going to be disappointed!<br />Rhythm Angels are the duo of Celeste Krenz and Rebecca Folsom, who originally hail from North Dakota and Colorado&nbsp; respectively. They both had successful solo careers when they crossed paths in Nashville, began singing together at workshops and song circles and soon decided to join forces full time. This past year they released their first CD "girls like us" on High Horse Records and I had been hearing great things about them and their songs for a few months.<br />The duo took the "stage" and, without the benefit of microphones or PA systems, launched into their first song, a rocking blues called "Lets Kiss and Make Up" which immediately got the crowd into it and ready. From there they switched pace with the title tune from their CD "Girls Like Us", a gorgeous ballad with an anthem-like universality in its lyrics:<br />"Girls like us go with the wind<br />We risk it all, and if we fail, we risk it all again<br />We burn hot and we fall hard<br />Girls like us are like the stars"<br />Here's a video of this song not from this show:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4VONKAFzRo">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4VONKAFzRo</a><br />I may never be a girl but I've known some who "burn hot and fall hard like the stars"! A really beautiful and amazing song!<br />I wondered to myself, what kind of songs must these two have to use up such a strong tune so early in the set? Well, the next tune REALLY floored me! "If I had A Gun" may be one of the most chillling and direct songs I have ever heard anywhere! I don't often quote lyrics in my reviews but already I feel compelled to quote these ladies for the second time. But dig these lyrics and tell me they don't make you squirm a bit, even without the haunting music!<br />"If I had a gun, you'd be dead<br />One to the heart,one to the head.<br />If I had a gun, I'd wipe in clean,<br />My fingerprints, off on these sheets.<br />They'd bury you in the cold hard ground,<br />Fist full of dirt would hold you down.<br />They'd bury you in the cold hard ground<br />It'd be the first night, I'd sleep sound."<br />Here's a link to a video of this song, also not from this show but worth viewing:<br /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9IVOmbaSFg">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9IVOmbaSFg</a><br />Heavy stuff but not heavy-handed in execution, these women can deal with the barest of emotions directly with grace and dignity and though you MAY squirm just a bit, they are always entertaining while doing so.<br />The set continued with one killer tune off their CD after another with no drops in intensity, either in subject matter or performance. Every song was a highlight and I could write on and on about each one, but I will TRY to restrain myself just a bit. But many tunes need to be mentioned if only in passing. I have to comment on the smoldering sex appeal of their version of "29 Ways", the Willie Dixon classic.&nbsp; I'd be remiss not cite the universal feel-good healing vibe of "Sister Love's Cafe". And&nbsp;Rebecca's song "Mama's House" is so personal, so painful and intimate, that it would be hard to listen to if it were not such a beautifully crafted and sung composition. Celeste's powerful&nbsp; "If I Don't Leave Now" really grabbed the audience and got a big ovation. And when the ladies finished the first set with the bluesy "She Loves To Love A Fool" I had to wonder what they left for the second set, the first was SO strong.<br />During intermission we mingled as usual and had some forbidden treats but my prime purpose during the break was to purchase the Rhythm Angels' CD and have it signed and to meet Celeste and Rebecca and let them know how much I was loving their music. They were both as friendly and personable face-to-face as they were on stage!<br />Well, as usual, I needn't have worried about the second set. They still had plenty of great tunes and, while the first set maybe had more of their killer tunes in it, front-loading your set with some of your best material can be an understandable&nbsp;survival strategy for acts playing in front of new audiences in unknown venues. Nonetheless there were lots of highlights left for the rest of the night. They started the second set with "If I Had A Boat" with its beautiful river imagery. Next was Rebecca's gorgeous ballad "Wish I Could Love That Way Again" a wistful look at innocence very much in the tradition of the Ronstadt/Waldman/Bonoff acoustic SoCal sound.<br />&nbsp;I need to interject a thought here. I've written on and on already with hardly a mention of the fabulous voices these two possess or their professional musicianship as guitarists. I assure you that is only a testament to the quality and power of their songs!&nbsp; I often find with world-class songwriters, it's easy to overlook their vocal or instrumental talent. I have done it in this forum when writing about John Batdorf, a world-class writer who is also world-class as a vocalist and guitarist. When's the last time someone spoke to you about Paul Simon's singing or guitar playing though he is a great vocalist and guitarist. The ability to write with such power,clarity and entertaiment is so much more rare a quality! Celeste and Rebecca are GREAT vocalists, whose voices complement each other wonderfully. Rebecca's voice is little more bluesy and more comfortable on lower parts and Celeste usually takes the higher parts. But their voices are also almost interchangable and I'm sure they'd be comfortable singing each other's parts. And their guitar work is professional, precise and rhythmically interesting. Great singers, players AND writers!<br />The other highlights of the second set included several from their CD. Celeste contributed "Listen To October" a pretty song about endings and Rebecca gave us "Something Good" which she described as a tribute to the joys of infidelity (her idea not mine!). Mixed in&nbsp;were a few non-originals and older songs not on the CD. It was a VERY entertaining second set, and it culminated with the encore tune , an a capella sing-along on "Amazing Grace" that left us all feeling the power of song! This show was definitely one of the best of the year and these are a pair of compelling singer/songwriters whose synergy together make them one of my favorite finds of 2009. And a note to my wife Becky, see I told you I could write a whole review on the Rhythm Angels without one mention of how beautiful they both are! OOPS!<br /><br />A link for the Rhythm Angels:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/rhythmangels">http://www.myspace.com/rhythmangels</a><br /><br />and for Duncan House Concerts:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/duncanhouseconcerts">http://www.myspace.com/duncanhouseconcerts</a>Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-63490218458953489512009-12-20T17:20:00.000-08:002009-12-20T17:20:26.081-08:00Blogger's NoteAll THREE of my regular readers have been wondering what's up. Did I just stop seeing shows, did I give up the blog?&nbsp; Well I assure you all, I have seen a bunch of shows and have good notes and have every intention of getting caught up. I'm afraid some real life intruded.I call it being "blogged down" with life.&nbsp; I'm now on vacation and have a bit of discretionary time.&nbsp; I have one review almost ready to post and hopefully there'll be more on its tail in rapid succession. First up is a review of the Rhythm Angels at the Duncan House Concert from October 4.Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-56724294344970021552009-10-25T16:03:00.000-07:002009-10-25T16:05:47.355-07:00Jimmy LaFave - Bodie House Concerts - September 20, 2009<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SuTXBUdY6JI/AAAAAAAAAKg/PglwAEXYtxY/s1600-h/Jimmy5.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SuTXBUdY6JI/AAAAAAAAAKg/PglwAEXYtxY/s400/Jimmy5.JPG" vr="true" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br />So, in the interest of full disclosure, I admit I've had a thing for Texan singer/songwriters for decades.&nbsp; It began back in the 60's and early 70's with folks like John Prine, Jerry Jeff Walker and Kris Kristofferson (yes, he used to be a songwriter and a good one too!). It continued over the years with people like Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark,&nbsp; John Hiatt, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, Lyle Lovett and Joe Ely. And while these Texans have styles that vary from country to blues to swing to folk, the one thing they all share seems to be powerful storytelling in the form of song. And&nbsp;after this beautiful September evening in Thousand Oaks, I can now add the name Jimmy La Fave to that impressive list. Although he grew up in Oklahoma, he has spent decades as a prominent member of the Austin, Texas music scene.<br /><br />Renee Bodie, who runs these Bodie House Concerts at the Thousand Oak Library, this past summer put on the first LA Acoustic Music Festival on the Santa Monica Pier. Because of date conflicts with an already-booked other festival, we were unable to attend, but I heard a lot about it from folks who were there. And the name I heard brought up most often for praise was Jimmy La Fave. So , that coupled with my long-standing love of Texas songwriters, made me anticipate this show for months. I was not disappointed!<br /><br />So, as we are known to do, we arrived fairly early and&nbsp;made the donation at the door, which on this night was manned by Severin Browne, singer/songwriter extraordinaire. We found some pretty good seats in about the fourth row and watched as the room filled. During opening introductions we learned that there were more first time attendees than regulars including a contingent of 41 folks from Hemet. Clearly this act had some drawing power. <br /><br />The band took the stage with Radislav Lorkovich on baby grand piano and accordion, Glenn Schuetz on electric standup 5 string bass, John Inmon on electric guitar and of course Jimmy on acoustic guitar and vocals. They kicked off the night with a tune which I believe was called "Bluebird" (I had some trouble verifying this title), a blues tune that featured a rollicking piano solo by Rad. The next couple of tunes were some of my favorites of the night , first of all "Deep South 61 Delta Highway Blues" which had an incredible John Enmon guitar solo, followed by "Only One Angel" a love song with a bit of Cajun two step flavor and Rad playing squeeze box style accordion.<br /><br />&nbsp;"Secret Garden"&nbsp;had John's guitar sounding like&nbsp; a violin and then a very soulful guitar solo. I need to pause and talk about John Inman. I'm sorry, Jimmy, to spend review time talking about a sideman so much, but Jimmy knows how special a player he has! This is world-class guitarist who has spent decades backing up the likes of Jerry Jeff Walker and Delbert McClinton among many others.&nbsp; A player of such talent that a teenaged Stevie Ray Vaughn idolized him and followed him around Austin, Texas. As a bit of a guitar player myself &nbsp;I can't help but rave about one of the most talented players I've heard in a long time. And much to the credit of Jimmy LaFave, not a whole lot of singer/songwriter types have the talent, self-confidence and generosity of spirit to not only put together a band of such strong players but also give them the musical space to work out. <br /><br />The first set closed with a quartet of great songs. First, the Dylan classic "Just Like A Woman" done Texas Highway style with an epic guitar solo by John and a piano interlude by Rad that was quiet, contrapuntal classical sounding and wonderful. And then the rocking boogie of "Rockin' Little Baby", with nods to Chuck Berry but sounding fresh with the usual great solos by Rad and John. Then came Woody Guthrie's classic "This Land is Your Land", which I still say should be this country's national anthem which featured Rad's accordion work that was reminiscent of the great Tex-Mex sounds of Flaco Jimenez and , of course the audience singing along.&nbsp; The last song of the set was my very favorite of Jimmy's compositions. "Deportee" is one of the only and certainly one of the best songs documenting the travails of illegal aliens entering this country only to be become prey of the elements, the authorities and people's attitudes. This was an extremely moving song and it brought the first set to a close on a very high note.<br /><br />Intermission brought the usual, pot-luck treats, mingling with friends new and old and of course a chance to purchase CDs and have them signed. Among the familiar faces in the crowd, besides the aforementioned Severin Browne, were Russ and Julie, house concert presenters extraordinaire, Kenny Edwards, who we had seen the previous night in Goleta and Steve Brogdan, who runs the Thousand Oaks Library and is somewhat of a cohost of this concert with Renee Bodie. I also got a brief chance to speak with John Inmon and learned that HE doesn't hear those "violin" sounds he makes though he is often told others do. To him they're just electric guitar sounds he achieves with the use of only some overdrive distortion and a volume pedal and some finger technique. There was no attempt to make fiddle sounds but I wasn't the only one who heard it like that!<br /><br />The second set began with another of Jimmy's great compositions, "River Road", a tribute to the spiritual healing that love can bring. Next up was "Blues in C Minor" which served as an intro to "Highway 49 Driving Blues" yet another example of Texans' obsession with both the blues and with driving and yet another chance for John&nbsp; to show off his amazing skills on electric guitar. After a couple of typically great originals,"On My Mind" and "Desperate Men Do Desperate Things"and another Dylan cover, "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" the set built momentum towards a conclusion.<br /><br />But there still was a lot of ground to cover!&nbsp; "Indian Nation" about the Oklahoma hills where Jimmy grew up featured Rad on accordion again and Jimmy making the same accordion jokes that we heard Dan Navarro tell a couple of months ago on the same stage. After a cover of Van Morrison's "Have I told You Lately That I Love You" that was made popular by Rod Stewart,&nbsp;the set began to really cook with Jimmy's "Bohemian Cowboy Blues", a blue shuffle with shades of Lyle Lovett that featured a&nbsp; wonderful, very melodic bass solo by Glenn.&nbsp; Next up was "Revival" another of Jimmy's inspiring&nbsp;"religious" love songs and then, by request of our hostess, Renee Bodie, Jimmy's great total rearrangement of the 60's classic, "Walk Away Renee" which was a big crowd-.pleaser.<br /><br />The night was drawing to a close. The band out-did itself on "That's The Way It Goes", a rocking boogie-woogie with the usual incredible guitar solo by John and Rad doing his best Jerry Lee Lewis impression, just wailing on the piano while standing up and kicking away his bench! The crowd loved it and very quickly made enough noise to coax the expected encore. The encore began with Jesse Colin Young and the Youngbloods' 60s peace anthem "Get Together" with the whole audience joining in and John's solo at turns nodding to the original and also sounding incredibly like a pedal-steel guitar. The night finished with a medley that started as an uptempo version of the bluegrass classic, "I'll Fly Away" and turned into the classic "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?" that had the audience singing along again and John's hyper-speed guitar-picking on his solo that made John stand while playing for the first time that evening!<br /><br />Wow, this was a very fun evening. Jimmy LaFave is not only a first-class songwriter and expressive vocalist but as a band leader he has assembled a world -class band featuring musicians totally capable of fronting their own bands. It's a testament to Jimmy's talent and personality that these guys are having so much fun playing with him!Peternoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-6289488975844151532009-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:002009-10-19T09:07:36.263-07:00"Forward Into The Past" Firesign Theatre Live at Barnsdall Gallery Theatre, Hollywood October 16, 2009So I wanted to write a brief description of last night's show cause there seems to be a lot of interest. As we typically do, cause I'm pretty anal, we left REAL early from Oxnard to beat Friday night traffic. Had a real early dinner in Los Feliz, and still had hours to kill before show time, but Barnsdall Park is very cool, Hollyhock House, a Frank Lloyd Wright masterpiece, while not open gave us something to check out. Plus a cool sculpture garden and the Hollywood Hills to look at, and of course an awesome sunset. <br /><br /><br />We were one of the first inside the theatre, our seats were right where I thought. Fourth row of right hand section on the aisle. Wonderful vantage point. Small 299 seat theatre came close to filling but never did. Wider age range in the audience then I would have guessed. Sure most were our age, but there were quite a few 20,30 and 40 somethings also. Great place to see a show! Smaller than your average high school theatre these days, low stage only about a foot or so higher than the floor, pro sound and lighting. <br /><br />Finally the houselights dimmed and the four guys took the stage. They pretty much all look like older versions of the guys I remember from back when (duh!), David Ossman seemed to look the most different, I'm guessing from years of playing Rocky Rococo maybe? They immediately went into the beginning of "Waiting For The Electrician", learning our next three words in Turkish, bath, towel,border, and then of course "May I see your passport please" right through, I think the whole side of the album, including "Beat The Reaper" which has taken on new levels of meaning for me now! It then morfed into "Porgie and Mudhead" from "Don't Crush That Dwarf". <br /><br />I should pause and mention that the guys are holding scripts in their hands the whole evening, like they are doing a radio show, which essentially has always been their format. If anyone was disappointed for their $60 they didn't get to see costumes, sets, special effects, etc they were misguided. Firesign was always first and foremost about imagination, both theirs and their audiences'. Theatre of the Mind. Much more effective in its own way than theatrics! I thought the format was perfect. Their classic material presented so you could keep those same mental images we all carry from the old days but with the addition of facial expression, body language,sound effects both live and recorded, even a couple of tunes, the Loosner Castor Oil Flake jingle and the Porgie Tirebiter theme song. <br /><br />The end of the first half was new material, not too much of it, but funny. I wish I could remember any of the new stuff, but it didn't stick. I wasn't about to be taking notes at my first and only Firesign concert! There was a short intermission and we went outside cause it was really warm evening. I checked out the merch and noticed they had but one "Beat The Reaper" T shirt left and it was my size and seemed destined to be mine and now it is! Very meaningful shirt to me on a couple of levels! Lots of other merchandise, I almost bought a Ralph Spoilsport license plate frame until Becky reminded me I'd have to get rid of the "On Loan From The Smithsonian" frame that graces my 65 Dodge Dart (can you believe some woman once asked me what was on loan, me or the car?lol) <br /><br />The second half began with "Nick Danger,Third Eye" but was greatly abridged from the original. Rocky Rococo only had two lines! But very classic. Funny thing, Peter Bergman tried to do a fireplace sound effect by crumpling paper, it was the wrong paper, not cellophane as needed and it failed miserably much to the delight of the the other three amd the audience. There were several of these "in the moment" reactions throughout the night, knowing or sarcastic looks, adlibs even a "balloon boy" reference. Made the guys very real and human and the material come alive. <br /><br />After the Nick Danger bit they went into something I've never heard, Firesign Shakespeare, which if you know me at all, is pretty close to a description of my own personal nirvana! And they were spectacular! Very literate, in iambic pentameter and often rhyming but at all times typically Firesign hysterical. From there they became high school teachers talking to their students in the audience at the Shakespeare play discussing the curious upcoming menus at each of their four schools. They ended with some more new stuff and encored with new material that morphed into that poem on the first album, the poet escapes me now, but its famous, that "yes,yes, a thousand times yes" bit that closes, I think the first album. <br /><br />The guys were going to be out after the show to sign autographs and chat, but I had been up since 4 am and on the go since, and we were at least an hour from home so we had to pass on that. Kinda regretting it now but maybe we'll have another chance. Well that's it as I remember today. I'd be glad to try to answer any questions if I can. If you have the chance, go see these guys. They haven't "lost a step" and still got their "chops"! One last note, Becky, who was aware of them back in the day but never a "fan", had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed it and got all but the most "inside" references. I wouldn't hesitate to bring anyone who has an open mind with you.Peternoreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-59536631071893022612009-10-11T16:34:00.000-07:002009-10-12T18:46:23.417-07:00Kulak's "Wonderland"So, I really didn't plan on writing this review. This show wasn't a house concert or a music festival which have been my primary focus with this blog.&nbsp; Besides, I'm CONSTANTLY behind in writing reviews, I have one half-finished review from a show two weekends ago that needs to be finished, with another show from last weekend waiting to be written about. But, even with all that, I had such a great time last night, that I need to at least write briefly about it, and I need to do it today, because, unlike my usual MO, I took no notes last night.<br /><br />I've been hearing about Kulak's Woodshed for years, but hadn't ever made it there. I had even sent them an online donation once, but my technical incompetence prevented me from seeing a webcast at the time. And I wasn't tracking this show early on, because we were planning on attending the Joshua Tree Roots Music Festival this weekend. But then I had my surgery the week before last and also some terrible back problems and it became apparent I wouldn't be able to hack camping at a festival and we looked for alternatives. And then our friend, Scott, who lives in Hollywood, expressed interest in seeing this show, and it became a&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; no-brainer.<br /><br />After meeting Scott for a really nice early dinner we headed over to Kulak's early for an 8:00 PM show. We had John saving us seats but wanted to still arrive early to check out the place and to socialize a bit. This was a good move, mainly because the room itself was so interesting. Picture a living room-sized space filled with hand-me-down seating of wide varieties. We sat in three connected theatre style seats right in front of the "stage" (actually just a space in the center of the room), but other seats were old couches and arm chairs and bar stools and even an old bed where a couple of people had a very relaxing view. The seating is for about 35 people. &nbsp;And then there is the decorating!&nbsp; Think Early American Hippie decor crossed with a real-life Peewee's Playhouse! There is so much STUFF on the walls and ceiling it defies description. Hopefully when I put up pictures it will help or check out the archived videos on the website, pictures being worth so much more in this instance. The net effect was like a trip to Wonderland, NeverNeverland or some other magical location. I even got to read an email live on air! Yep, little ole shy me!<br /><br />Kulak's is a labor of love for owner Paul Kulak and his staff of volunteers. It is run as a non-profit, no one makes any money, including the musicians. The donations are all there is to keep this place up and running. They pass the donation bucket during the show, suggested donation $10. They also take Paypal donations online. The appeal to the musicians is the warm, enthusiatic and hip live audience and the chance to go out live world-wide&nbsp; on the net with a&nbsp;fairly professional&nbsp;6 camera video set-up.<br /><br />The musical format for the evening was John Batdorf&nbsp;presenting his&nbsp;friends Scott Wojahn and James Hurley, with the performers taking turns with twenty minute sets and each of the three doing two sets. Because I didn't take notes, I'll just give a brief description of each performer's sets as I can remember them with this aging medicated brain. I apologize for not being prepared and taking notes, but I really thought I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing right now.<br /><br />First up was Scott Wojahn, who is an old friend of John's, they did a bunch of jingle work many years ago doing vocals together to sing about hardware and the like. I gather Scott hasn't been performing in quite a while.&nbsp; Can I be among the first to say "Welcome back!"?&nbsp; Because for someone who hasn't performed&nbsp; lately he was great!&nbsp; His songs ran the gamut from hysterically funny to emotionally moving to the point where you could find yourself crying in two consecutive songs for two totally different reasons! That's some depth of experience!&nbsp; Scott has a really nice voice and is an adept guitarist who also played piano on one piece, a very moving song about his daughter which was a highlight for me (sorry didn't catch the title). The other high point in Scott's sets was a little ditty called "It Sucks To Grow Old" a hilarious documentation of the myriad betrayals by our bodies as we age.&nbsp; Becky was literally in tears, she's still chuckling about it today as I write this. We all thoroughly enjoyed Scott's performance. Scott here's a vote to dive back in and start performing again regularly. If nothing else think of it as altruism, you have too much talent not share it with the rest of us!<br /><br />James Hurley, the next performer to hit stage, is a name I've been reading on house concert and other schedules for a while, though I never really had any particular feeling for what his music was all about. Well now I understand why!&nbsp; What do you say to describe a force of nature or&nbsp; a mirage of an enigma?&nbsp; How do you relate something you've never experienced before? James has to be one of the most unique performers I've ever seen. It may start with his anti-star appearance, seemingly&nbsp; middle-aged and balding with some of the most extreme sideburns you'll ever see. But his music almost defies description at times, acoustic guitar and vocals that remind&nbsp;one of a&nbsp;diverse palette of genres from Hoagy Carmichael to OingoBoingo to Delta blues and all points in between. He is both a reviewer's delight and nightmare to try to describe. His songs range from the perfectly over-the-top "The Vampire Song" where he sings about the vampires of Southern California or "Mushroom" where the real house of horrors comes with a hefty mortgage! But just when you think you can pigeon-hole him as a hopelessly quirky&nbsp;escapee of the Dr. Demento Home for the Musically Insane, he hits you with a song like "Mountain"&nbsp; a driving blues riff that is a scathing indictment of the damage done in the name of "progress" and the "nuisance" of conscience. Or one like "To Carry On" an inspirationally uplifting ballad urging us to strive through adversity.&nbsp; This is no "novelty" act though he is loaded with personality and quirkiness. James is an amazing guitarist, both in a technical and creative sense and his voice has so much personality that you might overlook how GOOD it is, pitch perfect over a wide range, with an emotional depth. At the night's end I paid James my ultimate compliment, I bought his CD, partly because John told us how good it was. We enjoyed listening to it on the drive home, as good and unique as his performance.<br /><br />Well, that leaves us with the evening's host and headliner, John Batdorf.&nbsp; Well it should be getting harder to write a review of John's shows. After all there is no one whose music I've reviewed any where near as many times and now we do the Facebook friend-thing and are getting friendly. You'd think I'd be running out of things to say. Right now you're all going "Right, Peter, running out of things to say! As if!" Well just to not let you down there are always new things I notice in John's music, that's why I go see him so often. There aren't that many artists that will stand up to such repeated scrutiny, but John isn't just any artist. But I will ask you to go back and read my previous reviews of his shows, they are more detailed than this will be and I think he has also inspired some of MY best writing.&nbsp; On this night we were treated to selection of John's music spanning the decades, with the emphasis, as expected, on the "new" album. I put new in parentheses because I have been living with it and actively listening to it for months and months now.&nbsp; I show no signs of tiring of ANY of it. Last night he did several songs off it, "That Don't Seem Right To Me" a bluesy rocker of a wail against the negative changes we all see aroumd us, "Eyes Wide Open" his normally scathing musical goodby to W and his cronies that last night sounded extra-venomous like John had a real bad day or something, "Will I Love You Forever" one of the more unusual love ballads that you'll hear, that Becky finds exceptionally moving and I love its almost Cajun-waltz feel and of course "What Dya Got"&nbsp; maybe John's best song ever, probably at least his most commercially appealing to my ear. Since I never tire of quoting myself, I'll again remind you I once called it an anthem to the down-sizing of the American Dream and the power of personal relationships to pull us all through.Which is just a glib way to say this song tells us to lean on each other to get ourselves through tough times. The fact is that its one of the greatest melodies John has ever written and melody has always been his strong suit. And the lyrics are the usual, literate but universal and always clever. I'm not sure how John and his writing partner, Michael McLean, split their work, who does what. My guess is that it varies from song to song but I've never asked John. But this song may be their best work!<br />So, in addition to the new stuff, we were treated to some classics like "She's The Girl" a beautiful ballad for their wives, "I Don't Always Win" his dark take on the tolls of substance abuse and of course John's "Stairway To Heaven"&nbsp; or&nbsp; "FreeBird" equivalent, a classic from the early 70's Batdorf and Rodney, "Home Again" a song that never fails to make me feel like I have just arrived home!&nbsp; A true classic.&nbsp;I had a very hard time not singing along like I always do, but we were going out live on the web and many of you have heard me sing, enough said! &nbsp;The night finished with all three performers joining in a rousing version of The Stones' classic "Ruby Tuesday" and this time we were all INVITED (big difference) to sing along, which we all did! A really fun great night of music in a unique venue. I urge you all to go there in person or visit on the web. And check out musicians links below. <br /><br />Link for Kulak's Woodshed:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kulakswoodshed.com/">http://www.kulakswoodshed.com/</a><br /><br />Link for John Batdorf:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf">http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf</a><br /><a href="http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html">http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/index.html</a><br /><br />Link for James Hurley:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.jameshurleymusic.com/">http://www.jameshurleymusic.com/</a><br /><br />Link for Scott Wojahn :<br /><br /><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/scottwojahn">http://www.reverbnation.com/scottwojahn</a><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/scottwojahn"></a>Peternoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-89347309608624257302009-10-04T13:25:00.000-07:002009-10-04T16:01:33.646-07:00Kenny Edwards and Michael Frey - SongTree Concerts, Goleta,CA - September 19, 2009 - House Concert ReviewOne of the coolest parts of living in SoCal, going to house concerts regularly, and now doing reviews, is that I've gotten to see, listen to, meet and sometimes get to know a bit, some artists that I have followed and respected for many years. One of the most accomplished of these artists, though not that widely known, is Kenny Edwards, who we have had the pleasure of seeing live several times in the past few years.&nbsp;Even&nbsp;if you don't know the name, I guarantee you have heard many, many songs that have featured him as a writer, producer, vocalist, or sideman on a variety of instruments. His discography reads like a veritable Who's Who of Southern California rock music and he has worked with many country artists also. When we heard he would be playing at SongTree, a venue fairly local to us that we'd never been to before (see my venue review just below this one), there was no question that we'd be there.<br /><br />We had no tickets or reservations, so we arrived nice and early to ensure that we would get in and to score some good seats. It was a good move, the room filled up pretty early and though&nbsp;we were in no danger of not getting in, the closer seats filled pretty quickly. The crowd here was&nbsp;on the oldish&nbsp;side and many seemed to know each other, leading me to guess many were members of the Congregation that sponsors these concerts.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>The good thing about double billed concerts is that you get to hear acts that you've never heard before, the bad thing about them is you get to hear acts you've never heard before. Fortunately this was one of the former, a nice opportunity to hear a good artist. The opening act was a gentleman named Michael Frey, a singer/songwriter from the Santa Barbara area that I had heard of but never heard before. He did a nice set of tunes, most of them his own. Michael is a VERY&nbsp; talented guitarist with a servicable if&nbsp;unremarkable voice who has written some nice songs and I gather he has a good following in the Santa Barbara area. Many there that night were there to see him in particular, from what I could discern. His songs ranged from the Cajun rocking chair rhythms of "The Bayou Teche" , the stylish fingerpicking&nbsp;ballads &nbsp;"Way Out in The Desert" and "Old Soul" to my favorites "Making It Up" which really suited his voice best of any tunes I heard and "Its Not There Anymore" a beautifully constructed song that describes a hometown "before it got mall-ed" in his clever lyrics.&nbsp;The set closed with a bluesy cover of Hank Ballard's "Shelter From The Storm" and we went to intermission feeling quite entertained. Here's&nbsp; a picture of Michael:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SskXDGfmZuI/AAAAAAAAAJM/nve2iSiT2vk/s1600-h/Michael+Frye.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SskXDGfmZuI/AAAAAAAAAJM/nve2iSiT2vk/s320/Michael+Frye.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><br />At intermission we bought a snack and drink at the outdoor snack table, had a nice chat with a friendly couple we met and enjoyed the cool night air. Unlike most of the house concerts we attend, familiar faces were few at this show, though we saw a couple of musicians we recognized in the audience. We re entered the concert really looking forward to Kenny's set.<br /><br />So for those of you who aren't familiar with Kenny Edwards, here are just a few high points. In the mid 60's Kenny was a founding member of The Stone Ponies along with Linda Ronstadt,&nbsp;they had a hit with the song "Different Drum". From there he teamed with Karla Bonoff, Wendy Waldman, and Andrew Gold in the "supergroup"&nbsp; Bryndle,&nbsp;and was a leader of Linda Ronstadt's touring and recording band, contributing material and expertise in creating her hit-making sound. Since then he has collaborated&nbsp; and played with a wide variety of acts ranging from Don Henley, Warren Zevon, Stevie Nicks, and Ringo Starr to country artists like Juice Newton, Charlie Daniels, Wynona and Emmy Lou Harris. There may be no one as influential in establishing the SoCal acoustic rock sound. In 2002 Kenny released his first solo album, the wonderful "Kenny Edwards" and the exciting news this evening was that his second solo album "Resurrection Road" is just about to come out, my copy is on order!<br /><br />On this evening, Kenny was accompanied by the wonderful multi-instrumentalist Freddy Koella who produced both of Kenny's&nbsp;solo albums.&nbsp; The set started with the title tune from the new album "Resurrection Road" with Kenny laying down a&nbsp;groove on the mandolin and Freddy playing a tasty fiddle.&nbsp;The next tune, the bluesy "I Got That Fever" featured Kenny on acoustic guitar and Freddy playing dobro. Freddy is one of the most economical and tasty players you will ever hear; every note he plays has a purpose and serves the song itself, with not a drop of "virtuoso ego" in spite of his obvious virtuosity. Next was another song from the new CD "Will You Still Love Me" whose clock-like rhythm propelled its theme of the futility of trying to make someone love you. Here's a picture with Freddy on dobro:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SskX-sGBRVI/AAAAAAAAAJc/pN6kPyMTNSg/s1600-h/Kenny+Edwards.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SskX-sGBRVI/AAAAAAAAAJc/pN6kPyMTNSg/s320/Kenny+Edwards.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br /><br /><br />"My Home Is Anywhere You Are", another new one, was a countryish tune with a bouncy, driving rhythm that again featured Freddy on fiddle.Here's a picture with Freddy on fiddle and Kenny on acoustic guitar:<br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SskZJ5sSaKI/AAAAAAAAAJk/cben-Pa9uc0/s1600-h/Kenny+Edwrds1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img $r="true" border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SskZJ5sSaKI/AAAAAAAAAJk/cben-Pa9uc0/s400/Kenny+Edwrds1.JPG" /></a><br /></div><br />&nbsp;Kenny introduced the next song as one of those "internal mining disasters of folk music", a favorite from his first album, "No Tears", an examination of macho attitude full of heart-felt irony. Freddy's really exceptional dobro solo was one of his best moments in a night full of memorable playing. Freddy switched to a vintage Gibson acoustic guitar on "So Many Ways To Break&nbsp;A Heart" and then back to dobro, adding to the swamp-funk sound on a cover of Lowell George's classic "Roll Me Easy".&nbsp; After Kenny urged the purists in the crowd to look away as he put a capo on his mandolin, he did the old R&amp;B song "I Can't Stand The Rain", which at one point humorously became "I can't remember this song" as the lyrics evaded his memory temporarily.<br /><br />Kenny's talent is enormous but in no way is he showy. His guitar playing has been so influential in establishing the distinctive sounds of SoCal folk rock, its easy to forget the crowd has followed HIM, rather than the other way around. His voice, while also never showy is full of emotional depth and has kept him in demand as a backup singer. And while his songwriting has never been hugely prolific, he writes really beautiful tunes and lyrics full of feeling. The next song, "I Saw It All There In Your Eyes" is an example of his beautiful, haunting &nbsp;lyrics applied to music written by co writers, and then on the following tune, "On Our Way To Heaven", Freddy played some beautiful acoustic guitar licks to again highlight Kenny's great lyrics.<br /><br />Well, all great nights have to draw to a close and Kenny closed this one with a couple of my favorites. "Statesboro Blues" is a Delta blues standard dating back to 1922 and covered innumerable times. Somehow, in doing a classically authentic arrangement, Kenny makes this song his own,&nbsp;easily the best version I've heard since Taj Mahal's first solo album, circa 1968.&nbsp; Freddy's dobro backing and solo were as authentic-sounding yet fresh as the arrangement, a remarkable feat.&nbsp; And then all that was left was the encore, a tune that Kenny describes as "my life story of obsessive compulsive love" (a theme I think we can all relate to!), "Misery and Happiness". Kenny played one of his driving mandolin rhythms with Freddy adding fiddle fills, making obsessive love seem like a whole lotta fun and bringing a great show to a rousing close!<br /><br />Kenny Edwards is one of a handful of SoCal musical icons whose body of work DEMAND your attention. Please if you have a chance , don't miss out! Go see him live and buy both his CDs! You'll be a better person for the experiences, I guarantee!<br />Here's a link for Kenny:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.kennyedwards.com/">http://www.kennyedwards.com/</a><br /><br />and one for Michael Frey:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.michaelfrey.com/">http://www.michaelfrey.com/</a><br /><br />and one for Freddy Koella:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.freddykoella.com/">http://www.freddykoella.com/</a><a href="http://www.freddykoella.com/"></a><br /><br />and one for SongTree Concerts:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.songtree.org/">http://www.songtree.org/</a><br /><br />As always, my love and thanks to my best friend and love of my life, Becky, for her photos and indulgences!Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-19472037699856881462009-09-26T16:25:00.000-07:002009-09-26T16:28:56.821-07:00SONGTREE CONCERTS - VENUE REVIEW<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Sr6jnxR4BNI/AAAAAAAAAJE/NyUm7HMRvVk/s1600-h/Church+stage.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" iq="true" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Sr6jnxR4BNI/AAAAAAAAAJE/NyUm7HMRvVk/s320/Church+stage.JPG" /></a><br /></div>This is another "house concert" -&nbsp;type venue that has taken us a long time to finally visit. We had heard of SongTree a few years ago when we first started attending house concerts, but somehow, for one reason or another we were never able to make it. Then for&nbsp;about a year,&nbsp;the venue wasn't operating, but when we heard they had re-opened and that one of our old favorites, Kenny Edwards, was appearing,&nbsp;we knew we had to finally go.<br /><br />SongTree Concerts, I guess, is not technically a "house concert". It operates at the Live Oak Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Goleta, CA, just north of Santa Barbara and about an hour from our home. It also doesn't work on the "donation at the door, all for the artists" system, but acts as a source of funding for the Congregation's environmental and social action programs, both local and global. But since they use many acts that are regulars on the house concert circuit and are not really a commercial enterprise, I figure they still fit my format here pretty well.<br /><br />The concert series was not running for a year because they built a new building to house their services and&nbsp; use for concerts. It is a beautiful structure and was designed explicitly with music in mind, with a new professional sound system,&nbsp; a stage and very comfortable, extensive seating. The legal capacity is posted as 428, but its hard to envision that many in here. The night we were there they had about 170 seats arranged in a semicircle around the stage. They also claim to have professional stage lighting, but that was the only item I found a bit lacking, the front third of the stage being in darkness, forcing performers to set up back a bit from the stage front. But other than that, it is an attractive and comfortable room with lots of seating and great sound, perfect for concerts. The room has very nice woodworking trim and the stage used chains of origami cranes hanging as a backdrop the night we were there. I'm not sure if this arrangement was permanent or temporary, and while it was unusual and kind of cool, it was also a little busy and distracting as a background (see above picture).The room is also devoid of ANY religious iconography or symbols, making it appropriate for other uses.<br /><br />The SongTree Concert series has been operating for seven years and 73 shows, bringing in a wide variety of music, including folk, jazz, rock and world music. A gentleman named Tom Lee books the entertainment. Their upcoming schedule includes Brazilian music, jazz, a Celtic harpist and then Susie Glaze and the Hilonesome Band, a bluegrass/country act which I have previously reviewed here. I'm sure we will be taking in at least a couple of these upcoming shows, so stayed tuned here for more on this great concert series.<br /><br />Here's a link for SongTree Concert Series :<br /><br /><a href="http://www.songtree.org/index.htm">http://www.songtree.org/index.htm</a>Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-10929084080697394182009-09-13T11:53:00.000-07:002009-09-14T17:54:09.978-07:00Stonehoney - House Concert Review - Russ and Julie's House Concerts - September 12,2009<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Sq7R35XZxiI/AAAAAAAAAIk/DtgtXqbEyIA/s1600-h/Stonehoney1.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 289px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381469362976310818" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Sq7R35XZxiI/AAAAAAAAAIk/DtgtXqbEyIA/s400/Stonehoney1.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Sq7Rs5hIRxI/AAAAAAAAAIc/wYEFXdRy6eQ/s1600-h/Stonehoney3.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 400px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 288px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5381469174038546194" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Sq7Rs5hIRxI/AAAAAAAAAIc/wYEFXdRy6eQ/s400/Stonehoney3.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div>Well, I could write one of my usual long-winded reviews, or I could sum up the Stonehoney concert at Russ and Julie's last night in only three letters. WOW! This quartet of singer/songwriters put on an amazing show featuring great tunes, incredible harmonies, impressive instrumental skills and just a whole lot of old-fashioned fun. And, I guess while a three letter review may give you the gist, I hope one of my rambling reviews may give you the additional info you folks need to make you want to run out and see this act live and buy their CD. I strongly recommend both courses of action!<br /><br />This was a concert I had really been looking forward to and as the date approached my anticipation just grew. First of all I found the group's story compelling; four singer/songwriter types from various parts of America meet up in LA, form a "songwriters circle" where they played around with each other's songs, becoming a "band" in the process, despite the intentions of all of them. You can't WRITE plot lines this good! And then a few weeks ago, we saw Dan Navarro performing with John Batdorf and saw that Stonehoney had backed up Dan on his first solo CD, done live at McCabe's in Santa Monica. The fact that this was a favorite group of both Dan and his musical partner , Eric Lowen, was a ringing endorsement in my mind. And of course this was to be at Russ and Julie's, where we are continually delighted by music we had never heard of before and have learned to trust implicitly. Then throw in the fact that the show was booked solid so early that an afternoon show was added, an occurrence that was unusual for most house concerts. Clearly there was something going on around here!<br /><br />So here's the cast of characters you're about to "meet". Start with Shawn Davis, the one native Californian in the cast but from such a remote rural area it could have been Mars. His career arc had brought him from playing and singing back up in various bands to a successful career as a frontman/songwriter on the club circuit to staff songwriting with heavyweights in Nashville, and ultimately back to LA and Stonehoney. The songwriter's circle began at the home of our next character, Nick Randolph, whose story includes growing up in first Boston then San Francisco, successful stints touring in bands, a debilitating wrist injury in martial arts training threatening his ability to play, his recovery and then a successful solo career. The last pair of characters are a pair of East Coast imports (like myself). Dave Phenicie grew up in the DC area, played the club circuits all over Maryland and Virginia, writing all along. He then moved to LA as a session player and touring sideman to array of country and alt-country acts, did a solo album and then this group. The last of the four, Phil Hurley, hails from Potsdam, NY originally. He played the upstate NY area in bands with his brother, Steve, and then on to Boston and then Seattle, getting side-tracked from his own music by a successful stint as a sideman for acts like Tracy Bonham, Fountains of Wayne and Lisa Loeb. And somehow his efforts to do his own solo music led to another band, Stonehoney. Like I said, you can't write stuff this compelling and ironic! And guys when its time for your screenplay, I'm your guy!<br /><br />So all this and we haven't even gotten to the show yet! Some of you are wishing you stopped at "WOW", for sure! Anyhow we were warned to arrive early for the evening show, it was a sell-out and seating would be at a premium. But somehow we left ourselves too much time after an early dinner, which led to recreational shopping and we all know no good can come from that, so we arrived later than I hoped. Seats were all taken, so while Becky dropped our pot-luck offering in the kitchen, I found us standing/sitting room on the stairs which acts as a balcony. There were lots of regular, familiar faces there but lots of new ones too, with a bit younger-than-usual audience profile. We were soon joined on the stairs by quite a few people, it really was more crowded than we had ever seen here. But while we did have a bit of discomfort due to crowding, our sight lines were excellent and the sound superb.<br /><br />Russ did his usual intro talk about other music in the area and introduced the show's cosponsor, Rick Hermelin, a massage therapist in the Agoura area. Rick is a super-regular at Russ and Julie's having been to over 100 of their shows, has cosponsored shows for ten consecutive years and is one of those "friendly faces" we see at intermission at many local shows that I have reviewed in the past. Then, finally, Stonehoney took the stage. In a venue this small, they play without drummer Scotty Lund, who augments the quartet in larger rooms. The evening's instrumental lineup was constant all night, Nick on acoustic guitar (Martin), Shawn on acoustic guitar (Gibson) with Dave holding the rhythm on Fender Precision bass and Phil adding ornamentation on lead guitar, alternating between vintage-looking Fenders, a Telecaster (with a humbucker in the neck position) and a Strat, and a vintage-looking Gibson Les Paul (in the pictures above, from left to right, Nick, Shawn, Dave and Phil with a Strat at top, and with a Tele below). It very shortly became evident that, while all these guys write great songs, their "bandness" ultimately relies tremendously on Dave's rock-solid, yet inventive bass playing and Phil's stunningly amazing lead guitar work. They are key in taking the simplicity of earnest folk/country/rock songs to the fullness of a finished product. Because Becky is studying hand percussion, we were at first disappointed that there was no percussionist this night, though I never felt the lack once the music started.<br /><br />A quick aside: a band with four lead singers and four songwriters could be a reviewer's nightmare and add in the fact that their CD attributes all songs to only "Stonehoney" and their frequent lack of any song introductions, some confusion is almost inevitable. But the fact that they, on stage referred to songs as being "one of Dave's" or the like, caused me to assume that songs were written by the one who sang lead on it and that lines of lyric repeated often in the song are most likely the title. So take most of the songwriting attributions and song titles with a couple grains of salt. And, as I have often done discretely in the past, I will edit this in the future if I become aware of blatant factual errors.<br /><br />So, Stonehoney kicked off the night with one of Phil's, "Feels Like Home", a feel-good country rocker that got the crowd going from the get-go. My first thought about the band was "These guys are much younger than I expected". After reading their bios on-line and listening to a bunch of their music, I had assumed these guys were much older, more like my age, than the 30- somethings they appear to be live. I have no real idea of any of their ages, this is just my impression seeing them. They look like they might be just as at home covered in tattoos and piercings and playing in some grunge band. They are quite accomplished guys if I'm at all close on the age thing. The next tune was one of Shawn's and one of the band's best, maybe the best prison ballad I have heard, called "Good As Gone", which features this memorable lyric "at the intersection, I could have turned right, but I turned wrong". Shawn has a voice like a thrift-store leather jacket, new and interesting but at the same time instantly familiar and comfortable. I heard moments when he sounded like the singer from Lynyrd Skynyrd or the guy from The Marshall Tucker Band, but still sounding original. And the harmonies! Most of these songs feature great four-part harmony, often evoking groups like The Eagles, The Byrds and even Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young. The other immediately striking part of the music was the lead guitar work of Phil Hurley, always extremely tasty in a classic country way but also often sounding a lot like Jerry Garcia in his best countryish stuff with The Dead or like Clarence White of The Byrds.<br /><br />The set progressed with Dave sounding vocally a lot like a young Jackson Browne on "Still Gonna Sing Your Song" and with Phil and Shawn's first collaboration, the upbeat, uplifting "There Is Light". Nick added a rockabilly flavor with "The One She's Taking Home". Other highlights in that first set included Phil's self-described "buckle bumper" (slow dance) country ballad " I Just Want To Dance With You" where he abandoned his voice's usual country/rock growl for a much sweeter sounding vocal, Dave's great song "Smile Again" sounding quite bluegrass with just a hint of rockabilly and featuring Phil's pyrotechnic country lead licks and Nick's "Little Angel", his songs being the most poppish and mainstream, but still true to the band's core country feel. When the set closed with Dave's rocking tribute to touring life on the road, "Your Turn To Drive", we all needed a break from the high energy excitement and the rising temperatures.<br /><br />At intermission the first order of business was to buy CDs. The band has only their first CD out and were selling it for only $5 each, which was ridiculously cheap for a really great CD. I was afraid they'd sell out at such a price and fought my way to the CD sales table post-haste and bought one for us and one for our daughter, who is a big fan of country, doesn't often share our taste and has a birthday coming up. I'm pretty sure she never reads me, so I don't think I'm ruining any surprise. As I'm writing this I was listening to the CD and our daughter said, "I'll have to burn a copy of this one" which I discourage as a fan of independent music and have made unnecessary with my purchase, so I guess I did real good in my gift buying. Becky held our spot during intermission, not wanting to fight the throngs. After my purchasing, I brought her a soft drink and some sweets for my sweet from the pot-luck table and then went back and grabbed a bit for myself, went out to the backyard to cool off and mingle and then it was time to go back for the second set.<br /><br />First up in the second set was Dave with his sweet bluesy "Melinda" that featured Phil's tasty bottleneck playing on his Tele. Shawn was next with his "Simple Life" which sounded like Buck Owens joining Lynyrd Skynyrd if you can get your mind around such a setup. Nick added another sweet melancholy number with "I Don't Want To Go Home" and the then the four took turns on the verses of one of my all time favorites, Dylan's classic "You Ain't Going Nowhere" which developed into a sing-a-long, at least for me it did!<br /><br />It was right about then the band began the most extensive series of guitar string breaking that I have ever seen in decades of hanging around performers! It became comical as both Nick and Shawn repeatedly had to rush to change strings in mid set if not mid song. Looking back on it now it was one of those opportunities to see performers as real people that make them that much more endearing to the audience and often leads to some magic of improvisation and spontaneity.<br /><br />Apparently the band knew that a young woman named Sara was there, in the front row with her friends (you can see the back of their heads in the left sied of the pictures above) , celebrating her Sweet Sixteen birthday seeing Stonehoney. So Dave knocked into an off-the-cuff version of the Chuck Berry classic, "Sweet Little Sixteen", a primal rock song every guitar player knows to one extent or another, and Phil had a blast riffing on such a standard in such a informal setting. Dave struggled a bit with the lyrics, which only made the moment more perfect, with the whole audience AND the band sharing a really unique event. Then Nick began the Hall and Oates hit "Sara Smile", crooning it for all it was worth in his best mainstream pop voice, adding his own perfection as he struggled for a chord or two and, of course Phil vamping jazzily on electric guitar in the background. It was as if a whole new band had taken stage or we were transported magically to a back alley bar somewhere. The improvising moments continued as Dave launched into The Temptations' classic "Just My Imagination" with the band doing their best Motown backup singer voices and even a touch of playful "choreography".<br /><br />Well eventually the guys got back to their own music with Phil offering his "Million Pretty Girls" rocker, a blistering Hank Williams Jr sounding rave-on that could be a theme for Monday Night Football were it not for its subject matter. One other little note about Phil. He was very obviously having the time of his life up there with a huge grin on his face much of the night (see top picture above). I always find guys like this quite infectious and, added to his amazing talent, I think he is going to be a name we hear about for a long time! The band continued to kick the intensity up a notch with Shawn's gritty murder story "Love Will Make You Crazy" a catchy Southern rocker firmly in the Skynyrd/Marshall Tucker tradition.<br /><br />This band gave the impression that they could play all night and might have if they had not given an afternoon show already. With four writers they have lots of material to draw upon and simple math will tell you that we were probably hearing pretty much all of the best songs by all of these writers and the quality was certainly top-notch. As the set was drawing to a close the highlights for me included a brilliant rendition of The Eagles' beautiful harmony song "Seven Bridges Road", Dave's kind of jazzy sounding "Tear It Down" and Shawn's "I'm The Lucky One". Around then Russ let them know that, while they could play as long as they wanted, it was 10:30, when the concert was scheduled to end.<br /><br />Of course the guys decided to do a couple more, kicking into Phil's "Two Years Down" a rocking missing you love song with Phil forgoing his bluesy growl again for a bit of sweet country twang and the whole thing sounding like a country radio hit if I ever heard one. And then they pulled out another of my old favorites to sing along with, again trading verses vocally on The Band's classic tune "The Weight". And then, of course the crowd demanded one more as an encore and they launched into the classic Joni Mitchell-as-done-by-Crosby, Stills and Nash "Woodstock", a celebration of the anniversary and more importantly the independent spirit of that time. The band had a blast on it, the audience sang along (this time I was sure it wasn't just me!) and the night came to a memorable conclusion. All that was left was for me to say "WOW!" I told you, you could have stopped there.<br /><br />Links for Stonehoney:<br /><br /><a href="http://www.stonehoney.com/">http://www.stonehoney.com/</a><br /><br />and Russ and Julie's<br /><br /><a href="http://www.houseconcerts.us/">http://www.houseconcerts.us/</a></div></div>Peternoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-16072698610715632372009-09-07T14:36:00.000-07:002009-09-12T13:15:55.357-07:00Gates and Goodell and Stephanie Bettman with Luke Halpin - House Concert Review - August 29, 2009<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqWq637WFwI/AAAAAAAAAIU/H0d2m4pC9UU/s1600-h/DSC02149.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: right; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378893258385921794" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqWq637WFwI/AAAAAAAAAIU/H0d2m4pC9UU/s320/DSC02149.JPG" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqWqtgCSsiI/AAAAAAAAAIM/5CMr0roXzl0/s1600-h/DSC02148.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378893028634309154" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqWqtgCSsiI/AAAAAAAAAIM/5CMr0roXzl0/s320/DSC02148.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>I know I told you all last week that I was through with the worry thing, but here I am back at it! In a previous review I have discussed potential problems with co billed concerts and in another the problems presented by preconceived notions. This night saw a collision of these issues in my brain and presented new challenges to this relatively new and inexperienced reviewer.<br /><br />This was another concert I had planned on passing on originally. I had heard Stephanie prior to this doing only a couple of tunes and I had been reasonably impressed. But Gates and Goodell were an act I had heard of but was unfamiliar with and the little bit of their music I had listened to on the internet had not convinced me that this show should be on my very busy calendar. Then the weekend before this show, as I hope you've read about in my last review, I saw Luke Halpin appear live with John Batdorf and I was so impressed with his virtuosity on mandolin and fiddle, we decided to come see this show after all. Besides, we like to try to support house concerts and live music in general any chance we get.<br /><br />So on another warm SoCal evening, we arrived at Scott and Rosemary Duncan's house concert upbeat and expecting another great night of music. And this was another night when the audience at first seemed rather small but soon swelled to capacity or somewhere near it. Becky and I found seats about where we usually like, a few rows back but close enough that we can see fingers on frets, this night opting for seats near the open door for potential cooling breezes.<br /><br />So first up taking the "stage" were Gates and Goodell, a SoCal staple for several years but this was our first chance to see them. John Gates and Bill Goodell take turns as lead vocalists, sing harmonies with each other and both play acoustic guitar with Bill switching to mandolin, or 12 string guitar on some tunes and adding harmonica on at least one song. The guys started out with Bill on mando and John singing lead on "Hurricane" which carried weather metaphors to their extremes, and then Bill switched to 12 string and took lead vocals on "The River". I loved Bill's voice when he sang harmony but as a lead vocalist his voice took on affectations that bugged me. The next tune, "Ghost" featured John's lead vocal and Bill adding harmonica to his arsenal. Unfortunately it was another song beating its metaphors into submission. The Duncan House Concerts generally take place with no PA system, which has never been problematic when we've been there before, but on this night, both acts had problems with dynamics that would have been helped by some amplification.<br /><br />Their set continued in similar fashion but I must add that most in the audience were way more enthusiastic than me and many seemed to be there to hear these guys in particular. They did hit a couple of high points for me, the song "Half-Empty Moon" had a neat tropical feel, reminiscent of Jimmy Buffett and John's tune "Brown Paper Bag" had an awkward innocence that was entertaining and Luke Halpin, joining in on that tune and their encore ,"Carolene" on his mandolin, provided a bluegrass flavor that made these songs more appealing.<br /><br />I never like to give less-than-glowing reviews. My whole reason to be doing this is my love of the music and wanting to share my enthusiasms. And it is only these co billed shows that throw me a bit, when I'm there primarily to see one act. I like to think I keep an open mind, I have even discussed my problems with preconceived notions. I really wanted to love Gates and Goodell. They are personable young men with nice voices, and adequate if not virtuosic instrumental skills. But ultimately for singer/songwriters it comes down to how good the songs are and here I find them a bit lacking in outstanding, memorable, or emotionally moving material. They ended up sounding like those talented frat brothers at the keg party or the guys playing happy hour at the neighborhood bar and grill. And if I wasn't truthful enough to say that, I wouldn't have much credibility doing this, would I? But, please this is only one man's take, and I often have strange taste, and many,many people think these guys are great, so I urge you to seek them out and develop your own opinions.<br /><br />That brought us to intermission, our usual chance to mingle and eat forbidden treats, this night in the comfortable Duncan backyard. We saw some usual familiar faces from the house concert scene and I saw a couple of friendly faces from the college where I work. The Duncan's hold a raffle at every concert often including goodies from their garden. We didn't know quite what to do or say when we saw a couple munching tomatoes out of the basket we assumed was the raffle prize. We let discretion be the better part of valor and just chuckled to ourselves and went in for the second half of the concert.<br /></div><div>So the Duncan's gave the raffle winner their prize (missing a few morsels!) and introduced Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin. Stephanie Bettman is a singer/songwriter/fiddler extraordinaire and has been generating a buzz in bluegrass/country circles with inevitable comparisons to Allison Cross and Emmy Lou Harris. She has the chops and talent to back up this hype. And her partner, in both music and love, Luke Halpin, is an awesome talent in his own right. The duo kicked off the set with a fiddle rave-up, Stephanie's "Seed Of Doubt" which let us know the kind of first rate musicianship we were in for. Next Luke switched to guitar on the ballad "Get Close To Me" with Stephanie's vocal recalling Joan Baez at her best (see picture, top left).<br /><br />The tone shifted a bit with the latinish rhythms of "On a Moonlit Night" with Luke's falsetto vocals amazing us all. Actually the revelation for me this night was Luke's singing voice. I knew all about his instrumental prowess and knew what a great voice Stephanie had but I never had heard Luke's tremendous voice. Whether it was doing harmony backgrounds to Stephanie's lead or delivering booming bluesy leads himself ( I think the song was "The Place Where I Am Going", a little sketchy on some titles), Luke has impressive vocal talents I was unaware of.<br /><br />Some of the remaining highlights included Luke's incredible guitar riffing in "Keep A Stiff Upper Lip", the up-lifting message song "The Good Silver" and the country ballad "The Letting Go" with Stephanie's vocals putting her in a league with the greats like Emmy Lou yet sounding only like herself. And when the evening ended to the strains of "Empty Words, Broken Promises" ,with John and Bill joining in on background vocals, we were left feeling like it had been a memorable evening after all (see picture top right).<br /><br />A note about billing. This evening's second act was billed as "Stephanie Bettman" and I notice their upcoming show at Russ and Julie's is billed the same way. Note To Stephanie - The act needs to be "Stephanie Bettman and Luke Halpin" or "Stephanie Bettman with Luke Halpin". He no longer qualifies as your secret weapon, word is out. Do right by your man, give him co billing, at least you'd be keeping it in the family!<br /><br /><br />Links for Gates and Goodell (please check them out, my opinion is ONLY opinion):<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.gatesandgoodell.com/">http://www.gatesandgoodell.com/</a><br /><br /><br />for Stephanie Bettman:<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.stephaniebettman.com/">http://www.stephaniebettman.com/</a><br /><br /><br />for Luke Halpin;<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/lukehalpin">http://www.myspace.com/lukehalpin</a><br /><br /><br />for Duncan House Concerts<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.myspace.com/duncanhouseconcerts">http://www.myspace.com/duncanhouseconcerts</a><br /><br /><br />for Russ and Julie's House Concerts (Stephanie and Luke there on Oct 24 ):<br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.houseconcerts.us/">http://www.houseconcerts.us/</a></div></div>Peternoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-41567825106665703912009-08-30T15:25:00.000-07:002009-09-12T13:03:50.099-07:00John Batdorf and Dan Navarro - House Concert Review - August 23, 2009<span style="color:#ffff00;"></span><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVQfvpwB3I/AAAAAAAAAH0/7drT8cjaYJI/s1600-h/John+Batdorf5.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 194px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 400px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378793836261672818" border="0" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVQfvpwB3I/AAAAAAAAAH0/7drT8cjaYJI/s400/John+Batdorf5.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVQLTj3KbI/AAAAAAAAAHs/bD2dojW6fCo/s1600-h/John+Matt+Batdorf.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 251px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378793485123398066" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVQLTj3KbI/AAAAAAAAAHs/bD2dojW6fCo/s320/John+Matt+Batdorf.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVPavz7SbI/AAAAAAAAAHk/kHB0lMB213M/s1600-h/DSC02137.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378792650893380018" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVPavz7SbI/AAAAAAAAAHk/kHB0lMB213M/s320/DSC02137.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVPCbnvtjI/AAAAAAAAAHc/z5UBM2QMoqw/s1600-h/John+Batdorf2.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 240px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378792233156720178" border="0" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVPCbnvtjI/AAAAAAAAAHc/z5UBM2QMoqw/s320/John+Batdorf2.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVOqkPxLLI/AAAAAAAAAHU/8cR4t1kBUIA/s1600-h/Dan+Navaro.JPG"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 138px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5378791823155211442" border="0" alt="" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SqVOqkPxLLI/AAAAAAAAAHU/8cR4t1kBUIA/s320/Dan+Navaro.JPG" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>Looking back at some of the reviews I've written so far, I get the impression that I'm worrying a lot these days. I'm worried about being late for shows, worrying about which act should open up and which should close, worried about being too nice or being too mean; it seems like a lot of unnecessary worry. Well I've kept the tradition alive again this week! Going to see John Batdorf and Dan Navarro's CD release at the Bodie House Concert series at the Thousand Oaks Library was a given, being that I'm a huge Batdorf fan who has seen John a lot in last few years and NEVER tires of him and being quite curious on how Dan would handle the Lowen &amp; Navarro legacy while continuing on his own. But I knew Dan was bringing a band and I wondered if John would be solo and how that would work dynamically. And another thought occurred to me: would I be able to find new stuff to write about just having reviewed John and James Lee Stanley some weeks ago. I'm certainly too new at this to start repeating myself. But the only repetitive thing here really was my worry. </div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>So, with the audience just seating and about half full, John took the stage alone with his guitars. His first song was "Let Me Go", an all-time favorite from Batdorf and Rodney days, its a tour-de-force acoustic guitar work-out he wrote back in 1971 inspired by the playing of Steve Stills. It was always impressive with the twin guitars of the duo but as a solo piece it is an extremely difficult task that John attacked so masterfully that its a testament to his maturing instrumental skills. See the top picture above. If anything, and I've heard this song live many times now, he played it just a touch fast, which I took as a sign of adrenaline flowing and a special show to follow. At last I was right about something! John followed up with one of his darkest numbers, a quiet, haunting examination of addiction called " I Don't Always Win " which, like always, got the audience so quiet you could hear that proverbial pin drop. At this point, I peeked at the crowd behind me, and the once half-full room looked totally full, leaving me with one less worry.</div><br /><div>John then introduced his songwriting partner, Michael McLean, who we had never seen before, even with all the times we've seen John in recent years. As Michael took a seat at the piano, I realized again my worries were for naught, John obviously knew what he was doing, and of course he brought his "band". The next couple of tunes from his great new album sounded nearly as full as the album production with depth of sound added by the piano. John played a stirring version of "I Go To Pieces" , one of the prettiest ballads on the new CD. If John was Crosby, Stills and Nash, all wrapped up in one artist (and I COULD make a REALLY strong argument to that effect), this one would be in his Graham Nash mode. And if he were all The Eagles in one package (you know what I'm thinking!) the next one would be his Don Henley mode, the country-tinged "Don't Tell Me Goodbye". Wow, and we were just getting started!</div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>John then introduced the next artist, Dan Navarro and his band. For those of you unfamiliar (remembering I have a HUGE east coast readership!) Dan for the last couple of decades has been half of the acoustic duo Lowen and Navarro who have quite a following and a great reputation in SoCal and much of the rest of the country. Health issues have forced Eric Lowen to retire from performing but Dan said they still will write together. In addition to Dan's considerable songwriting talent he has one of the biggest and best voices you'll ever hear. And this night he was releasing his first solo CD done live at McCabe's in Santa Monica with the group Stonehoney (coming soon to Russ and Julie's, see you there or stay tuned!). Playing with him tonight was a band full of some of the best players around. Joining Dan on acoustic guitar was Steve Postell, on piano and on accordion was Phil Parlapiano and the percussionist was Dennis Edwards playing cajon. See bottom picture above.</div><br /><div></div><div>Dan and band launched into their half of the first set with the up-tempo "Let Her Ride" which is on the live album and then a favorite for me "Baby Its Cold Outside" very ironic because SoCal was in the midst of heat wave, drought and wildfire season. And in "Learn How To Let Her Go" he sounded much like a West Coast Bruce Springsteen. Another highlight for me was the emotional and moving "Raining In My Eyes" (more irony) where Dan and band sounded kind of like Robbie Robertson and The Band but Dan has a better voice than either of those other guys and nothing sounded derivative at all. </div><br /><div></div><div>At this point John rejoined the festivities adding harmony vocals and acoustic guitar, briefly becoming a substitute for Eric. The four songs that closed the set were amazing. I loved hearing these two voices that are such perfect foils for each other, with John taking the higher harmonies. They did "The Road Is Never Ending", "I Don't Believe In Yesterdays" and another highlight, Dan closed with "A Better Man" a charming song he wrote for his newborn son many years ago.</div><br /><div></div><div>And here we were at intermission and I felt like we already had our money's worth of music and then some! At intermission we ate foods we're not supposed to and mingled with the many familiar and new faces there. It was somewhat of a house concert convention there that night. Along with our host Renee Bodie we chatted with Russ and Julie and Scott Duncan and I got a chance to meet a Facebook friend I had never met in the flesh, Jeanette Lundgren, who among much other stuff handles John's publicity through her Mother Hen Promotions. I was starting to feel part of the "in crowd"!</div><br /><div></div><div>The second half of the show began with Dan taking the stage solo for a beautiful version of "Don't Want To Do That To You" and then the band rejoined him. Steve Postell did some tasty bottleneck work on the bluesy "Until The Well Runs Dry" with Dan using his best Cocker-esque growl. They finished their portion of the set with a couple of Lowen and Navarro staples "Straight To The Heart Of Me" and "Walking on a Wire". </div><br /><div>John then retook the stage alone with his '55 Martin D18 for a rousing rendition of the Batdorf and Rodney classic "Home Again", another incredible solo acoustic performance that featured near-impossible guitar work. See the picture second from bottom above. John had mentioned in the past that he thought for years that this song was impossible for him to do live all by himself, yet he has come up with a killer arrangement that captures all the power of what may be his signature tune. John never gets enough credit as a guitarist mainly because his great songs and classic voice over-shadow this aspect of his talent, but if you heard this song live you'd be wowed for sure.</div><div> </div><div></div><div></div><div>For the next tune, John again brought up his writing partner, Michael McLean, to sing backups and play piano on the up-lifting "See Us Shine" , a tune they wrote in response to the LA riots that highlights all the great, loving things people do, an idea seldom sung about. Michael then was replaced by Luke Halpin on stage, first on mandolin on the beautiful ballad "Me and You" and then switching to fiddle on "Ain't No Way", a scathing open letter of good riddance to the end of George W. 's reign, from the new album and one of the only political songs I can remember John writing. Luke was featured on this song on the album and he really cooked on this tune, enough so that it convinced us to see him the following weekend playing with his partner, Stephanie Bettman (review coming soon!).</div><br /><div></div><div>The next tune "Love: All I Really Know About It" , saw Dan joining John and Luke on stage to do background vocals as he did on the new album. See center picture above. This is one of those songs I've had stuck in my head for weeks now, a really pretty losing-out-on-love song. On the next tune John got help from a family member. His son Matt, one of his twenty-something twin sons came up to sing backgrounds on "That Don't Seem Right To Me", reprising his appearance on the album. See picture second from top. This was another song where John sounded a lot like Don Henley at his best, but with something to say, which would be unusual for Don but never for John.</div><br /><div></div><div>To close up the show, John called back Dan and his band to join him on his last few tunes. First was the achingly beautiful "Will I Love You Forever" , one of the most moving depictions of the ups and downs that we all experience in love, with John singing one of his most memorable melodies with exceptional lyrics from Michael McLean. Then came the opening track from the new album, "What D'Ya Got". In my last John Batdorf review I called this "an anthem to the down-sizing of the American Dream and the power of personal relationships to pull us through".</div><div>It is an INCREDIBLE song, catchy and bouncy but with scathing lyrics that still manage to be up-lifting and positive, I can't believe its not being played on every radio station in the country. It has such hit single potential, I'm convinced that if it was recorded by a "flavor-of-the-month" female country artist (think Carrie Underwood) it would be a huge hit. I am still hopeful John's version will receive the attention it deserves. This night's version was a rousing group workout. All that was left was for the group to encore on a spirited singalong on The Stones' " Ruby Tuesday" done "All Wood and Stones"-style, like on John's album with James Lee Stanley. That brought this amazing show to a close. All those concerns I had, had vanished and my new theme song will be "Don't Worry, Be Happy"!</div><div></div><div></div><div>One note I must add to this review. While I have recommended artist's Cd's before in some of my reviews, I usually tell my readers to check out the music and see if they like it. I rarely get all worked up about some one's CD. I was on the early sales list for John's new CD, "Old Man Dreaming"and I have been listening to it a lot over the last few months. It just grows and grows and grows on me, in a way very few CDs ever do. I have most of these songs bouncing around my brain on daily basis and I'm still finding new aspects to all of them. If any of you are EVER going to take my advice, this is one time to do so! BUY THIS ALBUM!!!!!! Share it with your friends and family! I would not only love to see John get the recognition he deserves and make some money on it, but I assure you, your own lives will become richer, too!</div><div></div><div>All that remains are the links. For John Batdorf:</div><br /><div></div><div><a href="http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/">http://www.johnbatdorfmusic.com/</a></div><br /><div><a href="http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf">http://www.reverbnation.com/johnbatdorf</a></div><br /><div>and Dan Navarro:</div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.dannavarro.com/">http://www.dannavarro.com/</a> </div><br /><div>and Bodie House Concerts:</div><br /><div></div><div><a href="http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html">http://www.jrp-graphics.com/bodiehouse/index.html</a></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div></div></div>Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-66232047684756051242009-08-29T16:15:00.000-07:002009-08-30T14:28:56.586-07:00Susie Glaze and the Hilonesome Band and Fur Dixon and Steve Werner - House Concert Review<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SprpT-1UDoI/AAAAAAAAAG8/STh3RJ81_m4/s1600-h/FUR+DIXON+STEVE+WERNER+Susie+Glaze.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375865634713505410" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 135px" alt="" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SprpT-1UDoI/AAAAAAAAAG8/STh3RJ81_m4/s320/FUR+DIXON+STEVE+WERNER+Susie+Glaze.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SprpKfyLuOI/AAAAAAAAAG0/rvqACiXBku8/s1600-h/FUR+DIXON+STEVE+WERNER.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375865471760054498" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 192px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SprpKfyLuOI/AAAAAAAAAG0/rvqACiXBku8/s320/FUR+DIXON+STEVE+WERNER.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><div><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SprnpxBJ60I/AAAAAAAAAGU/sXVxinLECb8/s1600-h/SUSIE+GLAZE+HILONESOME+BAND1.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375863809938942786" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 138px" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SprnpxBJ60I/AAAAAAAAAGU/sXVxinLECb8/s320/SUSIE+GLAZE+HILONESOME+BAND1.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div></div><div>I should know better, I admit it. I mean, I've been going to shows at Russ and Julie's for years now, many featuring artists with which I was totally unfamiliar, but I have ALWAYS enjoyed them all. But having recently been disappointed elsewhere by an act described as Appalachian, I saw that word in the description of this concert, and somehow I mentally filed this as a show I'd skip. And in the back of my mind was the fear that, reviewing my first show at Russ and Julie's house since I began this blog, I REALLY didn't want to take a chance of not liking the first act I reviewed at the first place I ever saw a house concert! But like I said, I really should have known better.</div><br /><div>When we talked to Julie, at the Severin Browne show at Boney Mountain House Concerts the prior weekend (see my last review) , she asked if we were coming and I honestly told her I thought not, but then we talked a bit about the acts she was hosting and the fact that she only had about 30 reservations at that point and that got me thinking. I went home and fretted over it. And ultimately, I decided that Russ and Julie had long ago earned our trust and support, this blog was a newer, less important thing and que sera, sera. Once Becky concurred, I emailed Julie and we were going. I already knew I had nothing to worry about!</div><br /><div>Well as soon as Susie Glaze and the Hilonesome Band took the stage, the thought of worries were a thousand miles away. First of all the room was PACKED, I should have known Russ and Julie's regulars would come through for them. And just the band's instrumentation, stand-up bass, dobro, mandolin, acoustic guitar and vocals let me know this band would swing. That's them in the bottom photo above. And from the first note of Susie's vocals I knew this wasn't going to be that reserved, Celtic sounding almost madrigal-sounding Appalachian music that nearly puts me to sleep. Susie describes their music as "Americana Folk Bluegrass Fusion Band" , and that's hard to argue with, I'll just tell you, this is music with twang and swing and a touch of snarl and bite. The true Americana music that acknowledges its darker roots along with that white European stuff. The real folk music.</div><br /><div>The band kicked off the night with a tune called "One More Mile" , a rollicking bluegrass tune and followed it with "Maggie Bailey" another authentic-sounding up-tempo bluegrass rave up. Yes, no one would be putting me to sleep tonight! Not with this rocking band! Featuring Susie's husband Steve Rankin on mandolin and vocals, Fred Sanders on upright bass and vocals and the impressive songwriting talents of guitarist/dobro player/vocalist Rob Carlson, the band was tight instrumentally and Susie's voice is perfect for singing this country flavored folk music.</div><br /><div>As their set continued, we were treated to some great individual picking by Steve and Rob and great vocal harmonies by all the guys. The songs covered a bit of stylistic ground while never straying from its roots music, old-time feel. Some of the highlights for me included "River Road" with Susie channeling Joan Baez at her best and Fred doing some really tasty bowed bass parts, "Rocking In Your Granddaddy's Chair" , described as a lullaby but swinging, and Rob Carlson's tribute to that thriving metropolis "Albuquerque" that reminded one of a Bob Wills swing tune or a Dan Hicks delicacy. The Appalachian-sounding stuff they did came mostly in a couple of tunes written by the legendary Jean Ritchie, mountain folk songs with political overtones that share more with the work of Woody Guthrie than with any Celtic tradition, certainly nothing for me to fear! And when Steve sang lead on a couple of songs by one of my favorite songwriters, Steve Earle, I wondered why I ever thought of skipping this show. This is a fresh sounding act doing lots of new original tunes yet still sounding traditional and old-timey. I definitely will try to see them again soon and I urge you to try to catch them also. Here's a link to their website:</div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.susieglaze.com/">http://www.susieglaze.com/</a></div><br /><div>That brought us to intermission, time to sample the appetizer/dessert potluck, mingle with the rest of the audience and grab a little fresh air in the backyard. Though we saw some of the usual faces at this show, there seemed to be many fans that were here to see these acts in particular. I was wondering how the next act would fare, following such a strong opening act.</div><br /><div>When the break was over, Fur Dixon and Steve Werner took the stage, and I must admit, my first thought was "These people must have beaten up a couple cowboys and stole their clothes!" Looking every bit the young hipsters, like they should be wearing punk garb or at least rockabilly outfits, they had a dramatic if unusual appearance. Just Steve's shirt alone may have been worth the price of admission. Check out the picture above center. But as soon as they started making music, there was no doubt, that they were the real deal. With both playing acoustic guitars and singing, they kicked off their set with Steve's country antidote for worry, "The Road Outside My Door Says Let's Go" , followed by Fur's "Ventura County Line" , a love and cruising ballad, and I realized this night would continue in the countryish Americana style that opening act established.</div><br /><div>Steve and Fur traded lead vocals as they ventured further into their original repertoire. Steve did the honors in "Homesick For The Highway Blues" , causing me to write this note , "when you invite the audience to yodel, you get what you deserve!". But it sure was fun! So was "Pearl and Swine" , Steve's humorous theme song for the duo. Fur examined a bit more poignant territory in "Travellers" and "Back Roads and Blue Skies" , her voice evoking the country giants like Emmy Lou and the Carters, without sounding contrived. They also covered some classic tunes, Steve Goodman's " City of New Orleans" made popular by Arlo, "Do Re Mi" by that other Guthrie, Woody, and when they played "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" , I realized this act is WAY more Western than Country and all the more appealing for it. And their quirky looks and humorous takes on life, make a beautiful, moving song like "Scars" all the more meaningful. Don't let the schtick fool you, this is no novelty act, even though they ARE quite novel.</div><div> </div><div></div><div>When the night's fun concluded with Susie and her Steve, joining Fur and her Steve (see top picture) and the whole audience in a stirring rendition of Woody's "This Land Is Your Land" (our REAL National Anthem if I had my way!), I couldn't help but remember Julie telling me how much FUN this night would be! The two acts were a perfect co-billing. I know, I know, I should have known all along, mea culpa! But I'm sure glad I didn't miss this wonderful night! </div><div> </div><div>Here's a link for Fur Dixon and Steve Werner :</div><br /><div><a href="http://www.furandsteve.com/">http://www.furandsteve.com/</a></div><br /><div>and one for Russ and Julie's House Concerts if you missed it:</div><br /><div><a href="http://www.jrp-graphics.com/houseconcerts.html">http://www.jrp-graphics.com/houseconcerts.html</a> </div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div><br /><br /><br /><br /><div></div></div></div>Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-30342399851312880822009-08-29T13:48:00.000-07:002009-08-30T15:19:42.103-07:00Russ and Julie's House Concert - Venue Review<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Spr5EHyp5SI/AAAAAAAAAHM/E_67RoWFAck/s1600-h/Russ+Julie+house+stage.JPG"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5375882954426410274" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 400px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 252px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/Spr5EHyp5SI/AAAAAAAAAHM/E_67RoWFAck/s400/Russ+Julie+house+stage.JPG" border="0" /></a><br /><div>If you had to pick one house concert series to visit in SoCal, whether as an audience member or as a performer, the answer is a "no-brainer". Without a doubt, nearly anyone in the know would tell you, go to Russ and Julie's House Concerts!<br /><br />Its ironic that one of the last house concerts in our area that I am reviewing would be Russ and Julie's because, not only was their's the first home where we attended a house concert, but they are known in this area as the "Godparents" of the house concert movement. Russ and Julie Paris have been holding house concerts in their home in Oak Park, CA for almost 13 years! That figures out to having hosted over 130 concerts featuring almost 100 different acts! I believe it is the longest continually running house concert series in SoCal. Here is a link to their website: </div><div> </div><div><a href="http://jrp-graphics.com/houseconcerts/contact.html">http://jrp-graphics.com/houseconcerts/contact.html</a><br /><br />Becky and I first found Russ and Julie's House Concerts back in March 2005 when an old acquaintance of ours from back in Conn. , Jeff Pevar, played there. We had seen the show listed on Jeff 's website, and, though we had never even heard of a house concert before, we decided to check it out. We've been regulars ever since, we only wish we had discovered them sooner!<br />The concerts are held at the Paris' lovely home in Oak Park, CA in the eastern end of Ventura County. The concert space is in their living room/dining room/great room with high ceilings and excellent acoustics. Check out the picture above of their stage area. They have a small PA system which is more than adequate to provide great sound in this size room. The room has track-type lighting hung unconventionally on the walls aimed at the stage area and this provides remarkably effective lighting for the performers. They generally have 60 or so chairs set up and with additional seating on their staircase which serves as somewhat of a balcony. With standing room, we have been there when they have had over 100 people in the room. While this kind of crowd makes for cozy togetherness we have never been uncomfortably crowded.<br /><br />Here you will find most of the regular house concert features, the "donation" bowl at the front door (usually a $15 recommendation), mailing list sign ups, and of course, the potluck appetizer and dessert table. The hosts graciously provide coffee and soda and cups and usually the guests have put out a selection of wine to share. The crowd at Russ and Julie's can vary in make-up depending on the act, but there are usually a core group of "regulars" that we recognize from other visits. They also seem to attract a bit more young people than some of the other venues for whatever reason. I find this encouraging, as I always worry where the audiences of tomorrow are going to come from and I hate feeling like this great acoustic music is some kind of nostalgia trip for us aging baby boomers.<br /><br />Russ and Julie also book the greatest variety of music compared to other house concerts in the area. In addition to the best singer/songwriter types we have seen country, jazz, rock, pop, Celtic and bluegrass music here. Many artists we have seen here were acts we already knew and were fans of. Over time, we have learned to trust Russ and Julie's taste explicitly and we have seen several acts we have never heard of much less heard before and we have NEVER seen a show we didn't enjoy a lot. Sure, some have been better than others but I have never felt disappointed in any music I've heard at their house. And because they have been doing this longer than everyone else and because of their involvement in other acoustic music organizations, they have the best acts clamoring to appear there. Some of the acts we have seen there include Wendy Waldman, Freebo, Jim Photoglo, John Batdorf, James Lee Stanley, emith, Kiki Ebsen, and many others. We really have been there a lot in the last four or five years!<br /><br />I would be remiss if I didn't mention that in addition to hosting this wonderful concert series, Russ and Julie have been amazingly generous with their time, expertise and promotion, helping others get started in the house concert game, helping artists connect with new audiences and supporting these artists and venues with their attendance at many other concert venues. They are also quite active in the Far-WEST and Folk Alliance acoustic music organizations and, as part of their "day job" graphics business, Russ maintains websites for many other house concert presenters and for many musicians. On top of all this, they are two extremely friendly, outgoing and gracious people and wonderful hosts. I'm not only glad we found their concert series years ago, but also that they have come to be our friends. You can't have too much good music or too many good friends in your life!</div>Peternoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8898928964789568271.post-66698664671547539222009-08-22T11:30:00.000-07:002009-08-24T20:35:17.876-07:00Severin Browne - House Concert Review<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SpBt1l6gU_I/AAAAAAAAAGM/Zxt9cq09X4c/s1600-h/Sevron_Brown.JPG"><img style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; DISPLAY: block; HEIGHT: 270px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372915122930996210" border="0" alt="" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_E7uNOzo81YY/SpBt1l6gU_I/AAAAAAAAAGM/Zxt9cq09X4c/s320/Sevron_Brown.JPG" /></a><br /><div>Writing songs is tough stuff. I know, I've tried many times with VERY limited success. So I am always impressed by a songwriter who can write high-quality songs prolifically. Throw in the ability to perform these songs entertainingly for audiences and you have the makings of a major talent. Since the early 70's <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_0" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> Browne has been accomplishing such magic and this past Saturday night we got to experience this talent first-hand, close-up at the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_1" class="blsp-spelling-error">Boney</span> Mountain House Concert series in <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_2" class="blsp-spelling-error">Newbury</span> Park, CA. Again, here is a link for the concert series:</div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.brandick.com/Boney-Mountain-Home.htm">http://www.brandick.com/Boney-Mountain-Home.htm</a></div><div></div><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_3" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> Browne may be best known as Jackson Browne's younger brother, a fact he failed to mention all evening, but in the early to mid 70's he was a staff songwriter and recording artist for, of all labels, Motown Records. He never really fit in or hit it big there but he began developing songwriting and performing chops that still serve him today. We had seen <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_4" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> Browne once a few years ago at a songwriter showcase where he performed a few songs we loved and we have been looking forward to seeing a full night of his music ever since. Because <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_5" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> predominately makes his living as a guitar and music teacher, his performing schedule tends to be a bit light and it had taken us a long time to get a chance to hear him again. It was an opportunity worth waiting for, but I hope we don't have to wait so long to see him again.</div><div></div><div>So, as you have hopefully already read in my venue review, the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_6" class="blsp-spelling-error">Boney</span> Mountain House Concerts have a unique feature. Our host, Steve <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_7" class="blsp-spelling-error">Brandick</span>, performs a short opening set personally before the main act takes the spotlight. This practice is endearing in concept and quite a lot of fun in practice. On this night Steve took the stage to perform two songs before the first set. The first song was a blues he performed with a guest harmonica player named Russ. The second song was one of Steve's originals, a hilarious take on growing older called "I'm In Pretty Good Shape For the Shape I'm In". It was a great warm-up for the rest of the evening.</div><div></div><div>Then <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> took the stage looking more like a grown-up member of the Bowery Boys than a pop star (see above picture). His first song was a song called "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_9" class="blsp-spelling-error">CatWoman</span>" ( note to Zoe - this one's for you!) about a woman who feeds the cats of New Orleans from the back of the fast food chicken restaurant where she works. A typical <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_10" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> song mixing humor and poignancy with a catchy melodic nature it got the evening started. The first set featured quite a few humorous tunes, most notably "My Midlife Crisis" a great follow-up to Steve's similar take on aging and "The Other Man" a minor key ballad comparing an extramarital affair to life as a pirate that he describes as being in the "key of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_11" class="blsp-spelling-error">Aaargh</span>". Maybe the funniest tune of all was one he didn't write. "Would You Like To Play The Guitar?" was the classic "Would You Like To Swing On a Star" with new lyrics by Pat Donahue, guitarist for Prairie Home Companion, lampooning the music business at all levels. Hilarious and cutting satire that had added mirth for all of us guitarists in the audience. Mixed in with the humor were some "serious" tunes also, including "To The Light" a song he <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_12" class="blsp-spelling-error">cowrote</span> at a songwriting workshop with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_13" class="blsp-spelling-error">Freebo</span>, James Lee Stanley and David Roth ( not my cousin or David Lee Roth from Van <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_14" class="blsp-spelling-error">Halen</span>, but the singer/songwriter <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_15" class="blsp-spelling-error">Kerville</span> Festival winner). We've heard <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_16" class="blsp-spelling-error">Freebo's</span> version of this song and, while it was the best song <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_17" class="blsp-spelling-error">Freebo</span> did, the lyrics bordered on New <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_18" class="blsp-spelling-error">Agey</span> excess in his delivery. In <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_19" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin's</span> low-key vocal delivery the song takes on more weight and the interesting chord progression and melody are able to save the song from triteness and bring it towards the transcendence the song strives for. And for me, the highlight song of the evening was "Dear Ruthie" a moving spiritual lesson in song form that <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_20" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> had dropped from his repertoire and had to be talked into performing again. This is one of those "perfect" songs where you wouldn't change a note or word or nuance and that us mere mortals can only dream of ever writing. That he stopped performing such a masterpiece I find astounding, like <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_21" class="blsp-spelling-error">Michaelangelo</span> leaving the Sistine Chapel ceiling out of his portfolio.</div><div></div><div>Intermissions are always fun at house concerts, great pot luck appetizers and desserts, mingling with those we know and meeting new friends, enjoying the great backyard of our hosts, the <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_22" class="blsp-spelling-error">Brandick's</span>, and meeting the artist and buying <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_23" class="blsp-spelling-error">CDs</span>. I was lucky enough to get to talk to <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_24" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> quite a bit while purchasing a CD and having it signed. He is extremely friendly and approachable and I found him charming and very interesting to talk to.</div><div></div><div>The second set began as the first, with Steve getting up to do one more opening tune. Inspired by <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_25" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin's</span> "Dear Ruthie" take on spirituality he chose his tune "You Went And Got Religion", a hysterical documentation of the power of religion to screw up relationships. <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_26" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> then came back with a song from 1996, "Uptown" followed by a couple from his last album, 2001's "This Twisted Road", the title track's healing reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing and "Strange Life" another one he has only recently added back to his performing repertoire. The second set was more reliant on "serious" songs than the first , working in the love song "When Its Right, Its Right" and the catchy singalong of "I Am and I Will". But humor did <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_27" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">reappear</span> when <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_28" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> did the song I requested at intermission, the bouncy rockabilly-sounding "<span id="SPELLING_ERROR_29" class="blsp-spelling-error">Angelyne</span>" which he <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_30" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">co wrote</span> with Paul <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_31" class="blsp-spelling-error">Zollo</span> and its catchy upbeat rhythm inspired "chair dancing" behind me by Julie Paris of Russ and Julie's House concert and Renee <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_32" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bodie</span> of <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_33" class="blsp-spelling-error">Bodie</span> House Concerts. And when the show finally ended the audience had really experienced a well-rounded, balanced show that had covered quite a bit of stylistic and emotional territory. </div><div></div><div><span id="SPELLING_ERROR_34" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin's</span> performance style is laid-back. I'd be tempted to call his voice average or mediocre but when I think back on his show he NEVER hit a bad note at all, so maybe I am more noting the lack of vocal "fireworks" than any short coming. In fact this vocal approach shows deference to the songs themselves, never putting the focus on him rather than his songs. One interesting note, <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_35" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> is the first singer/songwriter/guitarist that I've seen in ages that never changed tunings on his guitar or switched to another guitar already in a different tuning. All of his songs were performed in standard orchestral tuning. His guitar playing is INCREDIBLE, technically brilliant but at the same time tasty and always <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_36" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">appropriate</span> to serving the song. And ultimately a night with <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_37" class="blsp-spelling-error">Severin</span> Browne IS all about the songs, humorous and moving and as warm and <span id="SPELLING_ERROR_38" class="blsp-spelling-corrected">accessible</span> as the man himself. Do yourself a favor and catch his act sometime, he is a truly unique talent that is way under-appreciated in his own home area. Here is a link to his website so you can keep your eye on him:</div><div></div><div><a href="http://www.severinbrowne.com/">http://www.severinbrowne.com/</a></div><br /><div></div><br /><div></div>Peternoreply@blogger.com0